Shadow Heat
by MF217
Summary: AU. Wes was a hardened criminal Snagger in the underground of Orre, a land where innocence dies at a tender age of 18. Wes, deciding to rethink his life choices after learning about some of the dark truth of his craft, prepares to end his career with the scum Team Snagem with a figurative and literal bang.
1. Prologue: Feint Attack

**Disclaimer: This work is a non-profit fan fiction for Pokémon. I do not own Pokémon nor do I own any of the characters aside from the occasional original character that may or may not appear in this story. The property of Pokémon belongs to Game Freak, which in turn belongs to Nintendo. The property of Pokémon Colosseum likewise belongs to Genius Sonority. Please support the official works. All major characters in this fic are of 18 years or older unless stated otherwise or appearing via flashback.**

**Shadow Heat Prologue: **

* * *

This land is not a place for the innocent; innocence dies at a young age. For many, it is 18, but for some, like one particular trainer, it was at the super young age of 11. It ultimately depends on who you ask as to what age exactly innocence dies in this land; a dirty blond male, named Wes, doesn't know the answer to this.

Entering a Colosseum in a place deep underground, Wes and an unknown figure step into the arena as they glance out towards each other from a wide distance; Wes hears the crowd go absolutely wild in cheering his name, but he simply has his eyes closed right now, as he ignores their calls.

'_Just business as usual.'_

Wes stands on one side of the arena, with his opponent on the other; his opponent has four Poké Balls at his belt, but Wes only has two.

"Tenebra! Soliaré!" Wes simply calls, harshly at that, as two Pokémon manifest from Wes' Poké Balls without the actual devices needing to leave the side of his belt; when they open, they don't appear to showcase anything in plain view, at least, at first.

Almost as if materializing from thin air, emerging from a shadowy puddle materializing from the floor, an Umbreon flashes its bright golden ring pattern at the opponent, all the while next to it, a whirlwind can be felt as an Espeon gradually phases into view in solid form.

"Not from around here, Johtonian trainer?" His opponent, a large, robust male with flowing red hair speaks out to Wes, as Wes doesn't bother giving an answer. Wes simply glares with venom towards the man before him, not even dignifying the man a response; his left hand curls into a fist, as Wes can feel the metal gripping his left arm tightening, but that's not what one would call an actual response.

"Fine, be quiet like that, and let me do all the talking!" The man bursts out, as he grabs two of his Poké Balls at his side, and materializes a Claydol and a Steelix from within the small containers.

"Tenebra, Throat Chop! Soliaré, Protect!" Wes commands, as the Umbreon, nicknamed Tenebra, suddenly pounces forward in a massive stride towards the Claydol. With a swing of its tail, effectively beheads the Pokémon; Claydol, though, didn't really mind the loss, as its body already prepares to erupt into a massive plume of explosive energy, as its head detonates with megatons of forces against Tenebra.

Tenebra tanks the hits and endures through it with its own physical strength, Steelix doesn't even so much as flinch, and neither does Soliaré, as an energy barrier appears from all directions around Soliaré, completely nullifying the damage from the explosion. Calling Claydol back to its Poké Ball, the large male moves to grab another Poké Ball from his belt, and tosses out into the arena.

"Murkrow! Deal with Espeon with Feint Attack!" The man orders, as Murkrow flies towards Soliaré before vanishing into thin air. However, Murkrow merely winds up slamming headfirst into Soliaré's force field, though actually causing it to crack a little.

Within a gust of wind, Soliaré disappears and reappears on the complete opposite side of the battlefield. What Murkrow didn't anticipate upon examining the battlefield, however, was that Soliaré was being a tad literal in a different sense; Soliaré, now floating on the ceiling of the cavern the colosseum is built in, doesn't even budge an inch from its spot, as Murkrow moves to fly up to attack.

Only thing Murkrow would expect even less was for Tenebra to suddenly lunge at it midair and strike Murkrow, taking it out with a powerful blow directly to its forehead. Though the trainer in charge of it tries to immediately return Murkrow to its Poké Ball, Tenebra isn't done; Tenebra grabs the Murkrow's body by the neck and begins to savagely shake it around like some form of toy, before tossing Murkrow into the air at an immense speed into the rocky ceiling.

"Harsh, but you're not interested in an unevolved Pokémon such as that, are ya?" The man scoffs towards Wes, but Wes doesn't respond; he seems to be readying his left hand to make a move, but eerily keeps it still. Nothing about this situation seems to be anywhere near out of the ordinary as far as Wes cares.

"… Fine, be a killjoy." The man states, before drawing his last Poké Ball and sending out a large, red mantis looking Pokémon known as Scizor; Wes' eyes practically light up upon making eye contact with the Scizor from afar, as he moves his left arm outward as steam erupts from the movement of parts towards his hand. In his palm, a Poké Ball with a black aura manifests out of nowhere.

Wes shoots the man a cocky glare, a smirk on his face as his eyes practically turn feral, as he twists around to ready his throw, before suddenly launching the Poké Ball at high speed towards Scizor. Performing a gesture towards the crowd with a raised arm, Wes points out three fingers. The Poké Ball connects to Scizor's head, and draws Scizor within it, dematerializing Scizor with a black glow and drawing it inside.

"Hah! A thief? You do realize these things can't simply be stolen like-"

_One shake…_

"What?! It actually shook?!"

_Two shakes, three shakes… *click*_

Suddenly drawing the Poké Ball back with a magnetic force, Wes clutches the Poké Ball in his hand, with Scizor within, as Wes calls out his newly acquired Pokémon, as Scizor looks around with a sense of confusion, before clearing its head with its priorities. Targeting the Steelix, the man looks on in shock as Scizor suddenly crashes its pincers into Steelix with an immense force; layer of armor after layer of armor is destroyed upon contact, as the man moves to flee the arena without reclaiming the Steelix.

"Pathetic; Tenebra… terminate." Wes, in a tone of reluctance and seemingly worn out, simply speaks to Tenebra, as Tenebra growls before vanishing into darkness.

The man is finds the door to his side of the arena shutting before he can escape, with Tenebra materializing from thin air behind him; sharp, powerful growling can be heard from Tenebra; the man begins to let loose a scream, but Tenebra puts an end to that in a snap. Tenebra, dragging the man's collapsed form and dragging him below into the ground, reappears back beside Wes as though it wasn't unusual with what just happened.

"We're done. Call your brother down from up there and call forth the fog, Tenebra." Wes states, as he moves to turn and leave, as Tenebra barks harshly up towards Soliaré to get his attention. Soliare, moving to warp beside Tenebra, lets loose a bright flash towards the crowd; a large gasp is heard, before sounds of confusion, but none of them can question it; all they see is an arena now suddenly filled with smog, as each of the audience members watch as it dissipates, and nobody remains in the arena.

To their knowledge, they no longer could recall what Wes had did there; all of them had begun to boo and jeer towards the arena, disappointed with the lack of a fight, unaware of what they could no longer recall.

'_Business as usual… until tomorrow, that is; I'm certain of it at this rate.'_

Somewhere outside, in the midst of a desert canyon, rides Wes with a massive hover bike through the evening desert landscape as he heads towards an undefined location. Wes, coming across a nearby town, prepares to make a stop for the night; nobody sane would dare cross the desert to reach where he intended to go once night fell.

At the very least, however, this is the last Wes has had of going to this other location; the last of his time as one of _them_.


	2. Chapter 1: Sucker Punch

**Shadow Heat Chapter 1:**

* * *

Sunset dimmed much of the lighting in this small town, as Wes had arrived to on time, before the sun would fully set. The scorching heat was slowly turning to blistering cold, but right now, the temperature was merely mild at best. Wes, parking his hover bike off to the entrance of the town, gets off of the vehicle as a man with oddly green hair walks up towards Wes.

"So tomorrow's the big day, eh Wes?" The man asks, as Wes looks over towards the man and nods, all the while the man chuckles. "So Team Snagem has finally-" The man is cut off by Wes suddenly grabbing hold of the man's mouth with his left hand, firmly holding his mouth shut.

"Not out here." Wes states, bluntly, glancing about in case anybody was nearby. Not a soul in sight, but one could ever be truly certain of that in a place such as this. Wes, letting go of the man's face, moves to walk towards a large building in the center of the town; a fairly sized hotel of sorts, as the man moves to follow Wes.

"Come on, Wes, not in the mood to at least spill the beans to your old pal, Cail?" The man says, stating his name to be Cail, but Wes doesn't mind it. Wes, simply grabbing hold of Cail by the cuff of his shirt, drags Cail along to the hotel so that the two could be in private.

"At least take me to dinner first before we head to the hotel, Wes." Cail remarks, the deadpan tone of his voice making it clear he was joking to Wes. Still not a word from Wes, as Wes drags Cail into the hotel's entrance. Cail's eyes widen a bit, before quickly shifting them to a more normal gaze. Upon walking inside, he has a good look at the person at the front desk of the hotel; a woman, roughly a few years older than Wes, as Cail makes a clicking sound with his teeth as he gives her a wink.

"How's it going?" Cail asks, to which the clerk seems somewhat taken aback, as Cail nods his head towards Wes. "Room for two, soundproofed at that." Cail asks, as the clerk prepares to lead them to their rooms, but Wes doesn't budge just yet to follow. Before he follows, he puts down his payment to the clerk on the front desk, before following her and Cail to his and Cail's room for the night.

Once inside with the clerk leaving them to be alone, the door shuts, and Wes finally speaks up.

"So I had to follow strict orders with today's mission; thank the Gods it's my last planned mission." Wes speaks up, as Cail raises an eye.

"Really now? What _kind_ of strict orders?" Cail questions, as Wes turns his head off towards the window, observing the oddly vacant opening in the square of the town.

"Gonzap gave my orders crystal clear; leave no witnesses, and snag the most powerful Pokémon on the trainer's team. I was reluctant with having to… terminate, the trainer in question, but Tenebra would've probably carried out the order even if I didn't command him to." Wes begins to explain, as Cail takes this all in.

"So what's the score you managed this time with your little one shot trick?" Cail asks, curious to know what Wes had snagged under strict orders. Wes, realizing Cail wants to see it directly, grabs the third Poké Ball on his belt and opens it up, materializing Scizor in the process.

"Ah, yes, Scizor. Do you plan to simply give this to Gonzap? Or do you intend to keep it for yourself?" Cail asks, as Wes stays still for a good moment before slightly shrugging.

"Not sure; I was supposed to deliver whichever Pokémon I had snagged to somewhere here in Pyrite Town, but Gonzap didn't tell me any address to head towards. He simply told me there's no way I could mistake the client for anyone else, whatever that is supposed to mean." Wes informs Cail, as Cail listens quietly as he takes all of the information in; Scizor is snoozing off in the side of the room, as Scizor seems indifferent towards the two talking.

"So how do you know you'll find the client tonight?" Cail asks, as Wes' gaze is fixated on the square just further outside from where the room is stationed in the hotel. Cail raises an eye, wondering why Wes is so stubbornly gazing out the window.

"You do realize nobody is going to see us through that one-way window, yes?" Cail asks, as Wes nods.

"Very much indeed; I'm anticipating on someone who actually can see me regardless. After all, didn't you overhear the same conversation from this morning from two strange looking goons?" Wes asks, as he glances over briefly at Cail, as Cail finds himself a tad bit intimidated with Wes' sudden shift in attention. Wes had barely moved at all upon sitting down on the small couch in the room, so whenever he did move, it was eerily unusual to see someone like Wes make a sudden move.

"Gonzap said the client should arrive in town by 8 PM. Tenebra will have no problem hiding in the shadows at such an hour. Needless to say, I'm going to have him scout out the situation." Wes says, as a Poké Ball from his side opens up and materializes Tenebra from within; Tenebra is quick to disappear into the shadows on the floor, as within a few moments, the last Poké Ball on Wes' belt opens up. Soliaré awakens from within, and his eyes glow a bright blue in color upon Tenebra vanishing completely from the room.

"And lemme guess, Soliaré here is going to be our alarm in case anything goes haywire for Tenebra, right?" Cail asks, to which Wes tilts his head to fully glare at Cail directly in the eyes with his striking, golden eyes completely unnerving Cail as Cail shifts back a bit in his seat.

"R-Right… There's no 'we' when it comes to you. Just the idea of 'every man for themselves'."

"_Precisely_. There can be no mistakes on what is to transpire in the next 24 hours, and having you tag along for the ride would be bad." Wes states, as he closes his eyes, taking a sharp inhale, before letting out an exhausted exhale. His eyes remain closed as he speaks again, "As much as I'd like to have you along for the ride just like in the old days, I can't let you take any of the fallout for what I'm intending on doing to Team Snagem tomorrow." Wes explains to Cail, rather bluntly, but in a tone that's oddly more at ease with himself and Cail's presence. Cail looks at Wes, giving him a nod, before looking out the window as he briefly sighs.

"Yeah, I miss those days a lot, knowing the kind of chaos you'd cause as Team Snagem's greatest elite. The fabled Lady Venus gracing you with her presence, just how often you'd infuriate Gonzap while still getting the job done right, and even all the way down to having two of the most rarest Pokémon in all of Orre all to yourself. What have you got to lose with a career like _that_?" Cail rambles on for a bit, as he reminisces on days gone by between him and Wes.

"Once tomorrow arrives, those bloodletting days are going behind me for good; if that means I'm officially a joke to Team Snagem or anyone else, then screw it. I'd rather be seen as a disgrace of a human being rather than live on as a monster to everyone." Wes states, very adamantly clear on his own thoughts on his role in the greater scheme of things. Wes, moving his head to glance back out the window, notices nobody in sight still, as Wes looks to a nearby clock to check the time. 7:42 PM, almost time to have a meeting with the client.

"Espie!" Soliaré suddenly shouts, as his eyes glow a bright white as the gem on his forehead shines like a star. Cail is taken off guard by the bright light shining from Soliaré, as Wes takes note of it and looks out towards the square. Wes finds himself staring in disbelief as to what he sees, due to the person not fitting the norm of Orre's civilians at all.

A redheaded girl, looking to be just a month or so Wes' senior, dressed completely modestly with a fully covering shirt, long pants underneath her already long skirt, and a form hiding jacket. Pigtails are present on both sides of her head, and her skin is pale as a ghost by Orre's standards. Young woman or not, she's too modestly dressed to be natural as far as Wes is concerned, and then it clicks in his head.

"Perhaps the client had arrived early." Wes states, before moving to return Scizor to its Poké Ball and heading out to walk towards the square, intending on greeting this abnormal visitor himself to deliver Scizor to her. Unbeknownst to him, however, two goons are making their approach to the girl, as Cail continues to observe from the hotel room.

Wes approaches the girl once outside, as Wes looks at her as the girl turns to face him. The girl's eyes shine like literal sapphires once she glances over towards him, as Wes is confused by the sight he sees.

"Are you the client I've been told to seek out?" Wes asks, as the girl blinks in confusion as she tilts her head to the side.

"What? What are you talking about? Who are you?" The girl asks, as Wes realizes something is up immediately; this girl isn't the client he was told to seek out. So then that answers one question but raises another. What exactly is an innocent looking girl doing in Pyrite Town of all places at an hour like this?

Before Wes can even see it, he finds himself taking a rather powerful blow to his backside, a sharp pain sending a surge of agony through Wes' side. Wes can't even process what he's seeing still, as he finds himself being approached by two rather scrawny goons. Tenebra strikes from the shadows, moving to viciously attack the two goons, before Soliaré arrives on the scene, and drags Wes away from the confrontation. Multiple, masked goons descend upon Tenebra at once, before Wes' vision blurs to black.

Nightfall had finally begun once Wes comes to. He's now back in the hotel room, where Cail is staring in disbelief as to what happened. Soliaré had brought him back here, but Tenebra is nowhere to be seen, as Wes finds himself sitting on the couch again as Soliaré tends to a wound in Wes' side. Wes, looking over towards Cail with a serious gaze, finally speaks up, "What happened out there?"

"You didn't see it, did you? They're back; after all of these years _they're back_, just as the officials said they would be." Cail explains, as Wes raises an eye as he lets out a hiss of pain as Soliaré tries to patch Wes up.

"_Who_ was there? What did you see?" Wes asks, as Cail looks at him simply.

"_Cipher_." Cail states, simply, in a rather cold tone towards this entity. Wes, looking around the room carefully, is finally alert enough to notice something very quickly.

"Where is Tenebra?!"


	3. Chapter 2: Rage

**Shadow Heat Chapter 2:**

* * *

"What did I do to deserve this kind of treatment?" Cail remarks to himself, as he finds himself infiltrating a warehouse towards the northern part of town. Wes is still recovering with Soliaré at the hotel, and Cail had offered to investigate Tenebra's disappearance. Too bad Wes couldn't stay conscious enough to give him a potential hint, but then again, Cail's association with Wes is all he needs to track down Tenebra. Tenebra may be able to hide in the shadows, but a Rogue like Cail has no trouble at all with collecting information of those who hide in such places.

What Cail didn't anticipate, though, was Wes trailing him from behind into the warehouse. Cail could tell Wes was stubborn with following him despite his injury, but then again, considering Wes' attachment to Tenebra, why wouldn't he be? After all, Tenebra didn't argue against Wes when he was given such an order as to terminate a trainer earlier, so Tenebra clearly trusts Wes' decisions more than one might otherwise expect.

"So, you've found the girl and you found Wes' Umbreon now have you?" A shrill, highly energetic voice speaks in an oddly calm tone over a communication device, as two goons are visible to Cail, as well as Wes.

"Roger that, Miror B; we've got Umbreon all ready for Ein to experiment on to his leisure. Poor Wes, kind of feel sorry for him, knowing how much of a massive contribution to Cipher he's been doing all of these years without even realizing it." One of the two goons says, a blond with spades of fiery red hair strands.

"Ya, expect the reaction from Wes when he learns that all of his contributions to Team Snagem were all a lie to keep him in line." The other goon, one with a paler shade of green hair than Cail, with mixes of blond in his hair, speaks through the communicator.

"Marvelous~. I'm sending over a file from Ein right now; it's experimental, so don't use it hastily my boys~. I suggest putting it to immediate use on that Umbreon you took." The voice on the other end orders, as the goons raise an eye.

"And what about Wes? What do we do with him?" The blond asks, as the voice on the other end chuckles a bit.

"Let the two reunite, I don't care how you go about doing so. All else I want you to give to me is _every. last. detail._ of the trace of heartbreak on Wes' face for me in the aftermath. Afterwards, bring the girl to Phenac City once you've determined how she stumbled upon our case. B, out." The voice speaks, before hanging up on those last bits of instructions. The two goons look over towards a heavily obscured person in red motorcycle gear.

"The sample has been applied to Umbreon. All we need now is to allow it to reunite with Wes." The masked person states, as he holds a Poké Ball containing Tenebra inside; the Poké Ball is purely black with a white trim, with a black aura manifesting around the Poké Ball as it actively does something to Tenebra.

Wes looks to his side, as he can feel Soliaré's Poké Ball shaking and trembling in panic; Soliaré can detect an immense pain coming from Tenebra, and Soliaré is trying to alert Wes while staying contained, as Wes immediately looks towards the person in red and grabs a Poké Ball from his belt. Opening it up and materializing Scizor out into the open, he points towards the room ahead within the warehouse as Scizor doesn't need any further explaining of what to do.

Scizor charges in headfirst into the room, using its giant pincers to crush entire storage containers to smithereens, and moving to grab hold of the two goons, all the while the red colored goon flees the scene while he can. Cail, in response to Wes' move, takes out a Poké Ball on his belt and sends out a very long, very fluffy Furret to deal with the two goons, all the while Scizor grabs the odd looking Poké Ball containing Tenebra and shatters it, forcing Tenebra back out into the open.

"Uh oh, not good." The blond goon speaks, as the green haired goon grunts.

"Wes, we'll get you for this!" The other goon states, as Cail chases the two off with a very frenzied Furret relentlessly pursuing the two out of the warehouse.

"Wes, I'll take care of these two, just handle Tenebra!" Cail calls out to Wes, as Wes grunts a bit after taking a step forward, still feeling immeasurable pain in his side. Wes, looking over towards Tenebra, notices Tenebra firing off a powerful glare towards Wes that has him wary.

"Tenebra, what did that guy do to you?" Wes asks his most trusted Pokémon, as Soliaré materializes from his Poké Ball to take a look for himself as to Tenebra's condition. Tenebra, in response, merely growls savagely, before a cluster of dark particles surround him as he moves to lunge at Wes directly, knocking Wes clean into the wall behind him.

"What has gotten into you?! It's me, Wes!" Wes tries to plead, all the while he looks upon Tenebra more closely; Tenebra's irises are completely shrunken to absurdly small sizes, as Tenebra is feeling nothing but outright hostility towards Wes. Tenebra moves again to attack Wes, dark particles forming around him again, before slamming himself hard into Wes' gut.

"Tenebra! Snap out of it!" Wes calls out, as Tenebra is snarling heavily from those two attacks against Wes, as dark particles begin to manifest around Tenebra once again to go in for another attack. Tenebra pounces after giving a savage bark towards Wes, but what Tenebra doesn't expect is for Soliaré to warp positions with Wes and take the powerful blow from Tenebra directly, without using any force field to keep himself shielded from harm.

"E-Esp…" Soliaré tries to mutter, before falling over onto the ground, as Tenebra is viciously growling all the while.

"_**Tenebra!**_" Wes shouts at the top of his lungs, as Tenebra's irises widen as Tenebra winds up shaking his head in confusion; his expression seems to indicate from moments ago was suddenly now a blur to remember, but upon seeing Soliaré collapsed to the ground, in immeasurable pain, and seeing Wes with a wounded torso on the verge of collapse, Tenebra's eyes widen in shock upon realizing what he had done to his trainer and his brother.

"Umbre!" Tenebra calls out, sounding taken aback by his own actions towards Wes and Soliaré, unable to process what he had done to them, as Wes looks over towards the communication device as he looks at the screen; nothing but static, all the while Wes grits his teeth as he looks down to the ground.

"They will pay for what they've done to us! They will all pay!" Wes states, loud and furious about what those goons must've done to Tenebra to make him deliberately turn against Wes and Soliaré in such a way. Wes, moving to sit as his side is taking its toll on his condition, moves to grab a device from his coat pocket; a communication device called a P DA, in which he immediately dials Cail.

"Cail, get the thermos ready and loaded into my bike when you can, because I've got a promise to fulfill tomorrow after what I have witnessed today." Wes orders to Cail, as Cail reports in.

"Roger that, but you might want to worry about those two goons, perhaps we should-"

"I will _not_ delay this any further knowing what they've done to Tenebra! I _will_ make Team Snagem and Cipher _pay_ for harming my best friend!"


	4. Chapter 3: Revenge

**Shadow Heat Chapter 3:**

* * *

Had it not been for an aching pain in his side, Wes wouldn't have even bothered waiting to strike against Team Snagem. As for who Cipher were to him, that didn't matter for him a whole lot. The only thing he has to go off of them is that they did something to Tenebra, and he will make them pay personally for what they've done.

Wes had a difficult time sleeping that night; Tenebra was perpetually staying awake, constantly trying to shrug off an uncontrollable aggression building up and constantly rising. Soliaré stayed put at Tenebra's side to try and calm him down, but Tenebra would often try and snarl viciously at Soliaré, waking up Wes each time, and forcing him to break up a fight between the two.

"Tenebra! You know Soliaré won't fight back!" Wes calls out to Tenebra, as Wes has to physically interfere with Tenebra; his left hand grabbing hold of the scruff of Tenebra's neck, as Wes holds Tenebra back from a limping Soliaré. The sight of Soliaré trembling in pain is all that's needed to have Tenebra snap out of his blind aggression, but even then, Tenebra hasn't exhausted his stamina for the night.

3 AM arrives as the clock goes off, as Cail is laying on the sole bed in the room, whereas Wes is laying upright on the couch as he tries to rest. Tenebra is positioned right at Wes' right leg, as Soliaré is lying down at Wes' left side. Tenebra still seems restless, as Wes notices all too well. At this rate, Wes doubted he would get any sleep; he has a mission to deal with just a few hours from now, so right now he's just resting all he can while trying to avoid completely falling asleep for the moment.

Any moment, Tenebra could lash out yet again, and Cail is surprisingly still asleep despite Wes having to occasionally snap at Tenebra to get him to calm down. Wes doesn't like the fact he has to sound so harsh to Tenebra; he's known him ever since childhood, and Tenebra is who he is most attached to.

Wes could vividly recall a day where he was first greeted with Tenebra in an old, rustic set of ruins in the middle of the desert. A train station was abandoned out in the middle of nowhere, and a sole train car was in view, and Tenebra was chained to the side of it from the back, looking completely starved and deprived of food and water. Tenebra, at this point, was merely an Eevee with an uncertain, albeit very horrible background. When Wes had found him, Wes had taken him in as his first Pokémon.

Eventually, Wes had joined Team Snagem due to unique circumstances in his own upbringing. In doing so, Wes eventually found the prick who had abandoned Tenebra in the middle of the desert, and among their Pokémon they used to battle him was Tenebra's own sibling Soliaré. The nickname sounded unusual with how it was allegedly spelled or pronounced, but to this day Soliaré refused to be called anything else. Quirky as Soliaré was in this case, it was nowhere near as adamant for revenge Tenebra was wanting against his old trainer.

The saddest part happened prior; Tenebra wanted to ditch Wes in favor of his old trainer now that they reunited, and for a while, Wes had actually departed with Tenebra in hopes they could patch things up. A few days later, Wes is on a mission for Snagem dealing with a bounty on a client's head. Wes encounters the bounty in the form of Tenebra and Soliaré's trainer; now having a Cyndaquil on his team as well. However, the Cyndaquil was in a poor shape, constantly being forced to pick fights with Soliaré, in which Soliaré harshly attacked back against it, and even struck out at Tenebra whenever he tried to intervene. Wes, at this point, was completely done with giving this trainer second chances; with three Poké Balls, Wes had snagged Cyndaquil, Soliaré, and Tenebra into his own acquisition, leaving the trainer without any other Pokémon.

To this day, Wes had yet to encounter the trainer again, even in spite of Wes wanting some kind of closure to know if he had been truly brought to justice. Perhaps all of this rambling in Wes' mind, reminiscing about how he had met Tenebra and Soliaré, was all that he needed to get some rest in preparation for morning. Wes hadn't reminisced like that in a long time, and usually he only had a need to do so when he was going through a lot of stress; he didn't dare speak up his own insecurities out loud for everyone to hear. He preferred keeping to himself, considering everything he has done over the course of his life had all just been him looking out for himself alone.

Was that really the case though, he thought, when taking into consideration Tenebra's and Soliaré's pasts. Tenebra has always been the one entity, human or Pokémon, that Wes honestly cared for the most in his life aside from himself. Soliaré to a lesser degree, considering their initial meeting wasn't as heartbreaking as Tenebra's, but Soliaré refused to leave Tenebra behind upon seeing him for the first time so many years ago.

Though that's not why Wes is here alive and well, that's not the real reason Wes is wanting to look back on everything. Deep down he knows that what he is about to do is effectively open up Hoopa's Prison Bottle, and unleash all of the chaos that comes with it, with how much of a plan he has in mind for his old associates.

That plan is about to begin, right about now.

An explosion echoes across the canyon from which Team Snagem's HQ is stationed. Various damages to the storage vault had caused a massive hole opened up to appear before Wes and Tenebra as they waltz right in unopposed. Their prize? The original prototype Snag Machine; Wes knew he would need it, for the Snag Machine he had up to this point was rapidly in decay. Taking the Snag Machine off of its display pedestal, Wes binds the Snag Machine to his left arm.

The process destroys the aged Snag Machine he already has equipped. Steam erupting from the shattering shards of metal, all the while newly fresh and new metal cover over where the rusted bits had cracked apart. Shattering like glass on the floor, the second Snag Machine was no more, and now only the prototype now binding itself to Wes' bio-signature remains. Wes hopes that this means he can begin the next phase of his plan, but right now was the time to escape.

The entire horde of Team Snagem begins rushing towards the vault and the source of the explosion; a Skarmory is seen flying overheard, screeching loudly into the window at the top of the building. A massive, bald man with a ludicrous mustache leers at the Skarmory, his teeth gritting as he gets off of his seat and charges down the halls alongside his men.

Wes and Tenebra make their getaway to the hover bike, as Soliaré is waiting for them both in the sidecar. Wes jumps onto the driver's seat, as Tenebra hops into the sidecar. Wes, seeing the sight of him one last time of his old crew, alongside his former boss Gonzap himself, grins with nothing short of glee upon seeing how utterly enraged the giant man is. The engines ignite and roar for what could be heard for miles, as Wes speeds off on his hover bike. Gonzap could only look on in utter rage upon seeing Wes get away with his prized prototype.

If only he knew that wasn't the only thing Wes had in store; Wes, pulling out a detonator, presses the button on it as a second series of explosions occur all across Team Snagem's HQ. Gonzap and his men are sent flying off of their feet from the shockwave of the thermal charges going off all at once.

Wes could only grin with glee, raising his shades to get a good look of the horizon ahead and the beautiful desert sunrise. It would only be a matter of time before he got the attention of the ones who had harmed Tenebra so badly, and he knew of one place on the top of his mind to look.

Outskirt Stand; the very place in which he had first met Tenebra at many years ago.


	5. Chapter 4: Refresh

**AN: I apologize for the lengthy wait between posting this chapter and the previous ones. My hard-drive had a complete failure and had to be replaced, causing me to lose all of my files and lose all progress I had on this very chapter. As a result, I had to recuperate and then retype everything from scratch for Chapter 4.**

**Shadow Heat Chapter 4:**

* * *

Outskirt Stand wouldn't have usually been Wes' first choice of destination for his plan. However, as it is the closest settlement in range of the ruins of Team Snagem HQ, it will have to do. Besides, Outskirt Stand is notorious for being a diner in the middle of nowhere. A meal sounds good right about now, but to not overdo it will be the key.

Wes, driving his hover bike towards the edge of the small, albeit scattered, fencing surrounding the lone train car, parks his vehicle at the side and locks the control panel in the driver's seat with his bio-signature. With a bio-signature imprint in one's belongings, the ability for some random bum to steal something such as this would be borderline impossible.

'_Precisely why I had made certain to install the bio-sign detector in the prototype a few weeks ago. Either way, perhaps I'll get a quick helping of sirloin and an energy drink on the side. I'm already running low on stamina with this plan so far, and I must ensure that there are absolutely no mistakes to be had.'_ Wes thinks to himself, monologuing to himself about his own plan.

Wes knows very well that for his plan to hit the next step, he needs to find a vulnerability in Miror B.'s spite against him. Wes couldn't just charge Phenac City so easily, considering what he recalls had happened there so long ago. Curling his left hand into a fist, as a surge of black electricity erupts from Wes' Snag Machine, Wes moves his left hand into his view. Slowly opening his hand, as spots of red appear across his entire hand and even some of his forearm, Wes doesn't even so much as react to what he's seeing. Resting his left arm at his side, Wes moves to approach his sidecar at the side of his hover bike.

Soliaré and Tenebra are both resting there, with Wes' expression dampening a bit when he sees Tenebra twitching a bit in his sleep. For how long he's known Tenebra, he always knew that whenever Tenebra was moving in such short, rapid, unpredictable movements, that something was bothering him immensely. Seeing Tenebra doing so while sleeping only has Wes even more worried as to what exactly Cipher had done to him, as Wes looks back towards the Outskirt Stand. Only just now noticing a truck of sorts at the front of the station, Wes raises an eye very slightly at it.

'_How long had _that_ been there?'_ Wes asks himself, mentally, as he's alarmingly quick to notice something the trunk of the vehicle carries so casually in plain view. Wes, moving to take a few steps closer towards it, notices a body bag slumped on its side, moving ever so slightly. Wes nearly snaps upon seeing two familiar men walk out of the Outskirt Stand and towards the truck, as he recognizes them from last night as the two unmasked goons at the warehouse.

'_They're looking over in my direction, and they don't even react. Why?'_ Wes wonders, as he is quick to realize something is not quite right with the two goons. They're looking in Wes' direction, occasionally making eye contact, but from what little Wes can see within their eyes, he suddenly understands. The two goons had gotten a bit careless with their choice of meal here, as Wes identifies their rather tipsy movements and inability to notice him standing in plain view as the two not being sober right now. Wes smirks a bit, realizing he can eavesdrop for as long as he needs for as long as they stay, but right now it seems like they're preparing to leave in the truck.

"Hoo boy, we certainly pigged out here after having did a job well done, aye Folly?" The man with greenish hair points out to his blond, spiky haired associated, named Folly. Folly lets out a chuckle of sorts, a few hiccuping movements being detected by Wes across his entire form.

"We sure did, Trudly! Nothing beats smooth sailing with a large meal such as that! We should come here more often, those drinks were excellent and spicy!" Folly says, pointing out his friend's name as Trudly, as Trudly groans a bit. Wes keeps his distance in case his suspicions prove correct about one of them.

"Ease off; spiced or spicy, I can't tell, but we mustn't slack just yet. We still have to deliver the goods to Miror B. at Phenac City. Fortunately even with our drunken states, I'm more than capable of seeing the road ahead of us." Trudly responds, as Wes perks up and stays perfectly still. Realizing that Trudly is sober enough to still drive to their destination, Wes keeps listening to scout how much time he'll have for what he intends for these two.

"So that means you'll be driving _my_ truck?"

"Do _you_ intend to drive it yourself and have us both lost til sundown when those… _**things**_, emerge from the sand?" Trudly states, bluntly, as he shudders a bit at mentioning something in particular, but not doing in-depth about what it was. Wes' eyes widen a bit, before calming back to a "normal" glare towards the two. Folly, meanwhile, sighs a bit.

"Superstition! You always get like this whenever you worry too much about us taking too long on our trips!" Folly states, as Wes' ears perk up in intrigue about how long Folly mentions his and Trudly's trips take. Almost as if on cue, Folly speaks again with more about it.

"You know full well my truck can only manage 20 miles an hour, and it lags a bit when even the smallest amount of weight is in the trunk, meaning we have about no less than 2 hours til we arrive at Phenac."

"So what are we waiting for Folly? Let's get a move on before anybody gets suspicious about the package!" Trudly points out, as Trudly jumps into the driver's seat without opening the door next to him. Folly attempts to do the same, only winds up smacking his head right into the control panel for the driver's seat, as Folly is hit with a small shock for his troubles.

[Valid bio-signature: detected.] The truck's control panel speaks in a monotone voice, as Trudly chuckles a bit. Starting up the engine of the truck, Trudly drives off with Folly and their unknown cargo towards the west, as Wes watches them from afar. Indeed, the truck's current speed isn't all that fast, as the two are still in viewing range of Wes' spot even after about a full minute of time passes. Wes, smirking to himself as to the realization, quickly hides his expression as he shoots a glare from the corner of his eye towards the truck departing.

'_So those two idiots will take about 2 hours to arrive at Phenac it seems. Unfortunately for them, my bike can achieve 110 miles per hour without even using up too much fuel. However, that wouldn't be enough to simply just jump them in the middle of the desert sometime after I finish up here, now would it? Winning isn't enough when it comes to those who have done me and my Pokémon personal harm; I need to make them cry.'_ Wes thinks things out, in regards to how to best proceed, as he looks again to the distance where the truck drove off.

'_So let them get as close to Phenac City as they can, so that they can have the false reassurance of achieving victory. The closer they seemingly get to their goal, the more satisfying witnessing their failure will be.'_ Wes states to himself, making a mental note of why he'll delay things to allow Trudly and Folly a chance to reach Phenac City.

Wes realizes he has plenty of time to reach Phenac City in the mean time, so now is ideal for him to have a bite to eat and rejuvenate himself after a long night prior. Proceeding to enter Outskirt Stand, Wes is greeted with a small pack of patrons and a single, large male as a host. Everyone's attention is fixated on a widescreen television, to which Wes turns his attention towards.

"Coming at you live on the scene, we report that the base of the insidious organization, Team Snagem, has been destroyed by an unknown hero just several minutes prior to our arrival here." The reporter on TV states, as Wes raises an eye.

'_Hero? _Wooow_, such strong wording choice with this one here, lady.'_ Wes mentally remarks, as he keeps his attention on the TV to witness somebody approaching from behind. A very large, robust man is approaching the reporter, as the cameraman takes a few steps back in surprise.

"Is this thing on?" Gonzap's thunderous voice springs forth at the camera crew, as Gonzap's massive hand reaches forward and grabs the reporter and lifts her high up into the air. As the camera crew showcase to the patrons in Outskirt Stand, Gonzap is utterly gargantuan in size. Standing what appears to be 9-10 feet tall, his hand grasping onto the reporter is about as big as the woman's whole torso.

"And you!" Gonzap shouts towards the cameraman as he snaps his head to face them, as the cameraman moves to tilt the camera upwards to face Gonzap directly. "Good, so you're getting all of this. Rest assured, what you see in all of this canyon before you eyes might be a blow to the Team Snagem cause, but rest assured there is never a chance to rejoice when you're against the winning team." Gonzap states, as he sets down the reporter, with her landing with a thud against the ground, all the while she looks up towards Gonzap.

"A-And why would that be? You Pokémon thieves have no base, and even with your grunts having scattered, there's no way you can recover that easily… right?" The reporter asks, as Gonzap lets out a loud, powerful roar of laughter in her questioning, before leering down upon her small form within his own shadow.

"You clearly have not heard about the finest member of Team Snagem, have you? Tell you what; you inform all of Orre right now about the traitor who has an ambition of his own, and I'll allow you to walk away from here in one piece. Understood?" Gonzap gives an ultimatum, to which the reporter nods, reluctantly. Gonzap grins, as he looks towards the cameraman.

"You see, the strongest trainer within my control is the one known simply as Wes. He is the best Snagger one will ever find in the entire Orre region, and nobody will stand a chance against his special combination of Umbreon and Espeon. With two rare Pokémon at his disposal, and having just stolen Team Snagem's most prized invention, the Snag Machine, Wes can and will steal Pokémon from anyone who he deems worthy of preying upon, and not even returning your Pokémon to their Poké Balls will do anything to save you from his wrath." Gonzap details, as Wes' attention is fixated upon the TV and Gonzap's warning to the public about him, although Wes knew right away that Gonzap is speaking the truth about a lot of things about Wes' resume, but he knows that for all intents and purposes, Gonzap is speaking nothing but s-

"Oi."

A voice interrupts Wes' train of thought, as Wes looks towards the source of the voice. Originating from a man close to Wes' own age, all the way in the back of the car, Wes can't help but shake the thought of the craziest thing about this guy being his pink hair. Wes, impressed that somebody with such a gruff exterior can pull off an odd choice of hair color, moves to approach his table and sit down at the opposite side of the table from him.

"So, are you the one ole' Gonzap is referring to on TV?" The pink haired man asks, to which Wes simply relaxes in his seat at the table. A waitress approaches Wes and the man, as Wes doesn't even budge to even bother noticing her. The pink haired man simply chuckles, as he looks towards the waitress.

"It seems my friend here wants to order a sirloin or two, with an energy drink as a side." The man asks, as the waitress nods.

"Anything spicy drinks we could offer?" The waitress asks, as Wes shakes his head no, rather slowly. The waitress understands Wes' gesture, as she giggles a bit and winks at Wes.

"Order up, sirloin steak and hi-energy soda, on the house." The waitress states to Wes and the man, as she moves to walk away from the table towards the counter. The pink haired man's gaze is fixated on the waitress, practically hypnotized by her swaying movements as she walks. The man whistles a bit, as he lowly chuckles a bit as he turns his attention towards Wes.

"Silent type, eh? I haven't dealt with someone like you since I last battled some kid about a year or so ago." The man states, before sighing a bit once he notices Wes' partially annoyed expression. "Ah, but alas, where are my manners? The name's Willie." Willie introduces, holding his hand out to Wes, as Wes simply stares idly in Willie's direction.

Willie raises an eye at Wes' idle stare, as though immediately grasping what Wes is like around other people. "Right, silent type, correct? You can simply nod if that's the case, ya know." Willie points out, as Wes nods in confirmation after a few seconds. The waitress returns with Wes' meal, a relatively large steak with a few sauces on the side, and a rather large glass of very fizzy, greenish colored soda.

Wes grabs the glass with his left hand, and quickly finds himself taking several large gulps of the hi-energy soda. Several seconds pass, as Wes slows down with drinking it, before calmly setting the glass down to the other side of his meal's plate. Willie just gawks at Wes with wide eyes after seeing Wes just guzzle down such a highly caffeinated soda without so much as gagging.

Wes' eyes close as he tries to process the taste of the soda in question. Wes, eventually, opens his eyes back up, as his fatigue only showcases more in his gaze to Willie, as Willie immediately understands why Wes had in mind such a drink. Or, for that matter, how exactly the waitress knew Wes would favor such a meal and drink choice.

"So, is what Gonzap saying on TV true about you?" Willie asks, as Wes simply glares at Willie in the eyes directly. Willie flinches a bit from Wes' gaze, with such piercing solid gold eyes of his looking all the more feral for what they were. Regardless, Willie clears his throat as he tries to speak up again. Wes, however, finally speaks for himself and cuts Willie off.

"You're a Pokémon trainer, you wouldn't take no to a battle by any chance, would you?" Wes speaks to Willie, as Willie's gaze calms as he raises an eye, as he tries to process Wes' request.

"First finish your meal, then we battle just outside, deal?" Willie asks, as he offers his hand again, to which Wes looks at him briefly, before moving to shake his hand this time.

"Call me Wes." Wes introduces at last to Willie, as Willie nods.

"Name has a nice ring to it, if I do say so myself." Willie compliments, as Wes nods with a smirk, before moving to grab a fork and knife and begin to chow down on the steak he had ordered.

"Is there anything else you'd like to say, Gonzap?" The reporter finally speaks up, after quite some time had passed with Wes having zoned out on much of Gonzap's "interview". Wes, however, finally perks up a little as he listens to what Gonzap proceeds to speak.

"I know you're not very far away from here, Wes, so I have a bit of a message I'd like to deliver to ya, just to see how paranoid it'll make you. I know you too well to know you get paranoid very quickly, and that if Phenac City is your next target, so be it. Heed my warning, however, in that a certain trainer you encountered in your past is currently at Phenac City. You know the one..." Gonzap begins to say. Wes tries to process what Gonzap is meaning with what he's implying.

"The very same kid you had snagged that Tyranitar from 3 years ago is back."

Wes' eyes widen a bit as he hears Gonzap's words before the video feed on the TV cuts out. Wes looks around carefully, as he looks at his glass of soda. The liquid inside is rumbling, as soon the silverware begins to tremble as well, as the plates and other devices in the Outskirt Stand shake as though a tremendous force is being felt nearby.

An immense, powerful shock wave hits the Outskirt Stand; the windows blast open from the sheer gale force of winds hitting the stand. The various patrons are beginning to panic, but Wes and Willie don't immediately panic. Willie gestures his head towards the entrance, as he gets out of his seat, with Wes quick to follow. Outside of the train car, Wes and Willie are staring in awe towards the far distance of the west.

A very massive, very powerful wave of sorts is manifesting from the ground very far off in the distance. Energy of a massive source flows into the sky, far beyond the visible horizon and seemingly breaching the atmosphere all the way into space. What exactly is going on, Willie cannot tell for certain, but Wes had seen an event like this before. Wes recalls only one time in the past where he had encountered such a display of power, and the memory of it makes him dread the inevitable confrontation with Trudly and Folly at Phenac City.

If merely because Wes doesn't exactly approve of the prospect of trying to ambush two agents of Cipher, all the while a kid with far too much power on his side is just casually throwing it about with such childish obliviousness to what happens around him.

"Willie, perhaps that battle would be wise for us to have as to calm our nerves after what we had just seen." Wes speaks up, as Willie raises an eye.

"Suddenly very talkative I see. Whatever Gonzap was talking about must've scarred you so long ago about this kid. What's the big deal with a child trainer anyway aside from the obvious Tyranitar of his?" Willie asks. Wes, reluctant, isn't certain as to whether he should speak up to Willie about what had happened 3 years ago that these memories of have surfaced. Wes, though, finally speaks up.

"Phenac City is the only place in all of Orre from which I've actually lost a battle."


	6. Chapter 5: Crunch

**AN: So I just had to refresh my memory a little on the opening bits of the game. I had a file on my old hard-drive that allowed me to research much of the story I'm about to cover, but I had lost it during the crash last month. As a result I had to replace my hard-drive and I had to redo my progress on Pokémon Colosseum as a direct result. Fortunately much of my progress wasn't game breaking permanent in regards to what I had lost, so I should make a full recovery of progress in record timing. Anyways, with that said, I do currently have in mind the Natures and Genders for the Makuhita, the initial Johto Starter, as well as the Furret snag, but I'd like some input on the next few snags that'll be coming up after the introduction of Phenac is done.**

**Shadow Heat Chapter 5:**

* * *

Wes and Willie's battle against each other is the only thing that both combatants want to focus on now after having seen who knows what going on far off in the west. Unfortunately, for someone like Willie, he probably should've realized what kind of trainer Wes was ahead of time.

"Tenebra! Crunch against Linoone!" Wes orders, as Tenebra's eyes light up an intense reddish glow, before Tenebra lunges forward at the Linoone charges it into the ground, biting down with incredible force against Linoone's neck with practically drooling fangs visible from Tenebra's jaws.

"Linoone! Counter Attack!" Willie orders, as his Linoone, a badger-esque Pokémon, struggles to break free of Tenebra's jaws, which were viciously gripping onto Linoone's neck, as Linoone utilizes large, powerful front claws to forcefully knock Tenebra off of it. Slashing with an incredible force at Tenebra's face and eyes, gigantic claw marks cover Tenebra's face. Tenebra's eyes, though, are quick to suddenly shrink in iris size, as Tenebra suddenly sparks with a reddish black energy before charging Linoone pointblank.

Tenebra, charging Linoone and forcefully pushing it along into the nearest pile of debris, crashes Linoone into the metallic debris. Linoone tries to push back against Tenebra, but Tenebra takes a brief step backwards each time before slamming himself forward to crush Linoone against the debris. Wes, eyes widening as he notices Tenebra's eyes and their hostility, immediately gestures for Soliaré to halt his stalemate with one of Willie's other Pokémon.

"Tenebra! Snap out of it! You're not some mad dog! Tenebra!" Wes calls out to Tenebra, as he clicks with his fingers to have Soliaré rush forward as Soliaré moves forward with such an immense speed to the point of practically disappearing. With a quick glow of his gemstone on his forehead, Soliaré teleports the Linoone that Tenebra has against a wall to rest at Willie's feet. Soliaré focuses a strong, psychic energy that forms into a wave around Tenebra to try and get him to snap out of it. Tenebra, however, immediately lunges towards Soliaré and barks and growls in such a loud tone and intensity as Soliaré flees from Tenebra's mad chase right to Wes' side, as Wes clicks with his fingers to try and get Tenebra's attention.

"Tenebra! Over here! Now!" Wes yells towards Tenebra, as Tenebra barks a prolonged, loud howl of sorts, as his body intensifies into a metallic form as black particles spontaneously begin to shed from every pore of his body. Wes' eyes go wide with immediate realization about what exactly Tenebra is about to do. Immediately grabbing Scizor's Poké Ball from his belt, Wes nearly stops himself, before promptly sending out Scizor to deal with Tenebra's unusual state.

Scizor readied itself to attack as it points its claws outwards and opens its pincers in each hand. Tenebra makes the first move, with Tenebra charging forward with pitch black… _**stuff**_, shedding from Tenebra violently, as Scizor doesn't budge at all, preparing to take the attack head on. Tenebra, lunging forward and howling wildly, sprays the black substance as a sort of – based off of how Willie and Soliaré both recoil away from the sight – horrifyingly painful to look at or smell toxin that strikes Scizor in its eyes.

Scizor, despite being Steel Type, suddenly finds itself squirming as it hastily moves to try and claw its own eyes out, all the while keeping them completely shut. Scizor tries in vein to rid its eyes of the black material, as Scizor's claws begin to burn away at the metal shell. Slumping over forward as it twitches in place, Willie watches in utter horror as he calls back both of his Pokémon as Wes gestures for Willie to keep his distance. Whatever Tenebra inflicted upon Scizor was by no means any ordinary form of Poison, no matter how foul and disgusting the smell of it was. Tenebra, moving to turn his attention right towards a lone Willie, just a few feet away from Wes and Soliaré, growls deeply as he moves to approach rather slowly.

"Tenebra!" Wes suddenly shouts towards Tenebra, as he moves to suddenly step forward and with his left arm, forcefully grab Tenebra by the back of his neck as Wes suddenly lets out an ungodly yell in sheer pain as his left arm straightens out from trying to reach Tenebra from a near two-three foot distance. Wes, having had enough once Tenebra's black material is tossed into his eyes next, collapses to the ground as red splats appear from Wes' entire left arm, with his hand practically being soaked with his own blood. As Willie watches in horror, Willie moves to try and help Wes back onto his feet, but Wes forcefully shoves his right arm outwards towards Willie to gesture him to keep away. Moving to suddenly grab hold of his left elbow to apply pressure to his bleeding arm, Wes tries to stabilize himself to try and get himself to stand.

Tenebra, at this point, finally comes to his senses upon smelling the distinct scent of bleeding from Wes, and realizes what he had done once he catches a single scent of his own bodily secretion, barks more jovially to try and get Wes to realize he's come back to his senses. Soliaré, though, barks only a single time to get Tenebra to keep quiet, as Willie observes as Wes manages to get back up on his own two feet by himself, his left arm still bleeding at that.

"Wes, what the heck happened to you there?! What's going on with your arm?!" Willie questions in haste, as Wes moves to glare at him with piercing – albeit heavily swollen – gold eyes.

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong, just had some of Tenebra's toxins irritating my eyes." Wes states, rather bluntly, and nowhere near in as much pain as his left arm suggest to Willie.

"What do you mean 'nothing'?! Your entire left arm is _bleeding_!"

"So? What of it? You expecting me to react to that, _how?!_" Wes again states rather bluntly, as Willie puts two and two together as his eyes widen a bit.

"So that Snag Machine is more than just a technology for thieves; you mean to tell me that your left arm is otherwise completely-"

"Worthless? Might as well just amputate it? To be even _more_ blunt about it, _**yes**_." Wes harshly states, as he looks around towards the distance and sees nobody in sight. "But more importantly, is your Linoone at all hurt by Tenebra's harsh attack?" Wes asks, as Willie simply gawks.

"That's what you're more concerned about? Talk about skewed priorities when you have an entire arm bleeding out!" Willie points out, as Wes rolls his eyes.

"I could care less about what anyone aside from myself and my own Pokémon feel, for fuck's sake." Wes coldly shouts to Willie to get it through his airtight head, as Willie backs off a bit. Wes' eyes maintain a harsh glare towards Willie, but his eyes calm as Soliaré exhales a healing wave into Wes' gaze. Wes' eyes suddenly look far less swollen, only to now look all the more cold in appearance, only for his eyes to calm down a bit after hearing a weak bark from Tenebra.

"… Is your Linoone alright or not?" Wes asks again, as if Willie didn't hear him the first time, as Willie was too busy processing what Wes had last said prior to realize what Wes had asked before that. Soliaré, applying the same healing wave towards Scizor, watches as Scizor finally opens its eyes to look at Wes and Willie. Tenebra moves to stand right next to Wes' left leg, as Wes can feel Tenebra trying to brush against his leg to calm him down.

After a while, Wes lets out an exhausted sigh, as he moves to sit down and, rather affectionately, pet Tenebra on his forehead with his left hand. Soliaré attempts to exhale the same healing ability onto Wes' left arm, but the bleeding merely stops, and nothing is actually healed otherwise. Finally, Willie grabs his Poké Ball containing his Linoone that was attacked by Tenebra, calling the badger-esque Pokémon out in front of him. Linoone has what appears to a major tear in its chest, but Linoone doesn't even seem to react to it at all, to the point of flat up confusing Soliaré and Scizor, as well as further baffling Wes.

Especially when Wes noticed one other detail he hadn't noticed prior. _'__Either I'm having the weirdest fever dream right now, or his Linoone is black and white instead of brown and __tan__.'_ Wes mentally notes. Aside from the now blatant coloration difference, and with Linoone tending to its own wound using its own, super lengthy tongue, Wes can't seem to make up his mind with what exactly he's seeing going on as to whether it's real or not.

"Ya, my Linoone is alright. Does that make you at least feel better about yourself?" Willie asks, as Wes shakes his head to keep himself awake once he hears Willie returning Linoone to it's Poké Ball, leading to Wes returning Soliaré and Scizor to their Poké Balls, but purposefully leaving Tenebra out. Willie, sighing a bit, looks over towards Wes' hover bike and realizes something.

"Whoa, nice ride. Mind I ask why you need something that can traverse from one half of the region to the next within the span of a single hour?" Willie asks regarding Wes' vehicle, as Wes moves to stand as he chuckles a bit.

"Oh, the _AT-Ven149_? One could say I designed the thing to conquer just about any terrain of the region, and that includes whatever everyone has been discussing more as of late regarding what lurks the desert at night. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" Wes asks, as Willie shrugs, before giving him a careful look in the eyes; Willie ain't no genius as Wes learned, but he can recognize sheer, unbridled fatigue when he sees it.

"Honestly I'd rather not worry about those just yet. I think what you need is someplace to stay for the night. I figure the Pokémon Center at Phenac City just to the west of here would do you fine." Willie recommends, as Wes shrugs at the change of subject. True, he's tired, and right now if he so much as wants to cut Trudly and Folly off in an ambush, he's going to have to beat them to Phenac either way. Even so, would Miror B. be waiting for Wes at Phenac personally? Or someone else from Cipher altogether?

"Sounds like a good idea. Any chance we can exchange emails with each other on our P*DA and contact each other later for another round?" Wes asks, as Willie nods.

"Consider it a deal, I'm looking forward to when I can figure out why the diner patrons are so amazed by a mere Linoone. Or the obvious in that your Umbreon somehow knows the move Crunch in the first place. Never know what they'll say at times, I will admit." Willie states, as he moves to shake Wes' hand, as Wes grabs Willie's hand with his right hand to shake.

"Just be sure not to let too many strange folks eavesdrop on what you've witnessed today from me, deal?" Wes asks, as the two shake hands.

"Deal. Also while you're at it, take it easy on yourself, alright?" Willie says, before making his leave back into the diner. "See ya around, Wes." With that, Willie disappears into the diner, as Wes moves to walk towards his hover bike and prepares to take off towards Phenac. With Soliaré popping out of his Poké Ball, Tenebra looks towards Soliaré with a bit of a glare, as Soliaré just minds his own business as though expecting Tenebra to "say" something.

Jumping into the sidecar alongside his brother, Tenebra and Soliaré await for Wes to board and take off towards their destination. However, Wes knew too well he couldn't leave just yet, even once he took seat on the hover bike. Wes, looking towards the roof of the Outskirt Stand, notices a Skarmory keeping eye out for things. A Steel/Flying Pokémon wouldn't seem out of place in the desert, but Wes merely smirks.

'_So that's how he realized I was near a TV with that particular channel on earlier.'_ Wes makes a note of; had it not been for Tenebra just recovering from a drop in sanity, Wes would've probably tried to snag Skarmory here and now just to make sure Gonzap wasn't going to continue to use it to spy on him. However, instead, with a few clicks from his fingers, Soliaré's hearing perks up. Soliaré, without very much warning, suddenly allows his gemstone on his forehead to glow immensely as a telekinetic force manifests around Skarmory, before suddenly having it whisked away elsewhere to Soliaré's destination of choice.

A simple maneuver for a simple task, as Wes waves his right hand across the control panel of his bike.

[Bio-signature: Detected]

'_Let's get this show on the road.'_

After a moment's thought, Wes roars off into the distance on his hovercraft achieving 90 miles an hour in only the span of several seconds flat. Once Wes is far enough from the Outskirt Stand, Wes accelerates into the distance. The oasis from which he dreaded all that time ago is once again a point of interest for Wes, especially since now that he's had the chance to iron out his main battle duo, he believes now he will be ready for whatever trainer awaits him there.

Little did he know the consequences that await him are much larger than he would've ever initially bargained for. _Yesss..._


	7. Chapter 6: Surf

**AN: I'm honestly surprised with how I decided to write the chapter as you'll see below.**

**Shadow Heat Chapter 6:**

* * *

So far it has been a rather awkward drive towards Phenac City, to say the least for Wes. A foul odor is emanating from Wes around his whole head, and Tenebra is practically covered head to toe in it, with Soliaré shielding himself with some kind of psychic barrier. It's never exactly pleasant when an Umbreon sprays an opponent in the eyes with what many claim is simply a toxin filled sweat. Especially considering Scizor wasn't even immune to it either, despite Steel Type Pokémon being inherently immune to normal means of Poison.

Wes just had to ignore it for now, since despite all of the odds, Wes arrives at Phenac City late by only a small margin. Trudly and Folly's truck is parked at the entrance to the city, blocking Wes' entrance to the oasis proper. However, Trudly and Folly seemed to have a setback of their own.

"I told you that shortcut was only going to stir her awake you idiot!" Trudly yelled at Folly, as both of them were wrangling the body bag that was now outside of their trunk. Wes, silently arriving and parking not further off, realizes that perhaps arriving late isn't so bad at all.

'_Shortcut or not, they've still got a trouble on their hands, with a small glimmer of hope in their sight. However, this just makes payback all the more sweeter!'_ Wes thinks to himself, as Soliaré moves beside him, standing in front of Wes before Trudly and Folly. The duo haven't taken notice of the foul smell coming from Wes, so thankfully the smell-free Soliaré is making the first move.

"Honestly, that's your big complaint about this? Sure, we've bond and gagged her before we sacked her, but sheesh! Some pervert you are for suggesting we-" Folly's rant to Trudly is interrupted when Wes walks towards the duo from behind, as Folly is clued in on Wes' approach by Soliaré stepping away and allowing the foul scent from Tenebra's spray to hit Folly's nostrils.

"Ick! The heck kind of smell is that meant to be?!" Folly mentions, as Trudly looks towards Wes as he smirks a bit.

"Honestly I figured we weren't the only ones doing dirty work here, but I didn't expect you of all people to take it so literally." Trudly remarks, as he drops the body bag onto the ground, as inside a loud grunt is heard. Wes' ears perk up when he recognizes the distinct feminine tone of the voice in question, as though is sounds familiar. Folly moves to keep an eye on the bag, as Trudly snickers a little bit.

"So, I take it you've been through such a sheer stinker since we last seen eye to eye?" Trudly asks, as Wes simply responds by calling out Tenebra from his Poké Ball and clicking with his fingers to have Tenebra focus on Trudly before him. Growling as his body solidifies as black particles begin to shed from his form, Wes smirks as Trudly stares like an idiot towards Tenebra's display. By the time he registers exactly what the foul smell coming from Wes was, it was too late to keep Tenebra from rearing up and spraying Trudly in the eyes with the toxin filled stuff.

"Ack! Folly! Get over here and back me up will ya?!" Trudly demands of his associate, as Trudly's goggles near immediately shatter from the sticky toxins melting through them, exposing Trudly's small, bluish eyes underneath his red colored goggles. Trudly lets out a nasty, pain filled scream upon Tenebra's toxins piercing his goggles directly into his eyes, as Trudly falls to the ground as his hands clutch as his face, hissing in incredible pain.

"Hey! What's going on here?!" The voice of a matured woman speaks as she approaches the scene from within the front entrance of Phenac City. The footsteps of another person approaching alert Folly from behind, as he backs away from the body bag as the muffled sounds of someone inside trying to struggle finally give loose to actual speech.

"Is anyone there?! Help me! Please!" A female voice speaks from within the bag, as Folly moves to kick the bag down against the ground to try and get the girl inside to shut up, as Wes approaches Folly and corners him between the two civilians and himself as Folly grits his teeth in anger.

"Fine then, have it your way!" Folly states, as he sends out two Pokémon from the Poké Balls at his side; a Loudred and a Lombre. Wes calls upon Scizor and Scizor's entry has it practically regrowing the melted steel on its carapace from earlier in an instant. A silvery glow manifests from it as it strikes Lombre with a powerful blast of air currents that let out a buzzing sound of sorts.

"Loudred, Attract against Wes' Umbreon!" Folly orders as Wes flinches a bit with the odd choice of move Folly has in mind, knowing just how situational such a move is by default. Folly's Loudred doesn't waste much time, however, as Loudred immediately makes a display with her large ears and singing a sort of discordant song towards Tenebra. Tenebra, already blinded by aggression due to his current state, soon finds himself immobilized from attacking Loudred from infatuation.

'_Crap! Both Tenebra and Soliaré are males, and I don't even know what gender Scizor. Unless, of course, that massive rear is meant to be any indication in which-'_ Wes' train of thought is interrupted when Loudred proceeds to make the same vocal and visual display towards Scizor, as Scizor doesn't even so much as react to Loudred's courtship attempt. About the only thing close to a reaction would be Scizor powering up her massive pincers and crashing them into Loudred's hide with a powerful, back-shattering force. Loudred is sent flying back into a wall, as Folly calls her back as he looks at his Lombre as Lombre is simply standing still like some kind of dimwit awaiting Folly's orders.

"You fool! Attack, attack, attack!" Folly orders to Lombre, as Lombre manifests some sort of misty energy that proceeds to cause water from within the oasis of a city to call forward towards Tenebra and Scizor.

"Everybody duck!" A child speaks as he and the woman prepare to take cover. Wes, noticing the bystanders in the way of Lombre's Surf, clicks with his left hand to have Soliaré intervene. Soliaré rushes towards the boy and the woman, manifesting a powerful barrier around himself and the two civilians. As a wave of water comes crashing down on Tenebra and Scizor, Tenebra tanks the hit, as Scizor tanks it as well. Scizor, moving to grab Wes with her pincers to keep him stable on the ground, keeps still as Wes is partly struck with the wave as well.

"Thank you..." The woman speaks towards Soliaré, as Soliaré moves back to Wes' side, as Soliaré finds the lack of a foul smell around Wes, Tenebra, and Scizor to be a refreshing relief.

"Am I a joke to you guys or something? I mean what the heck is this sort of disrespect all for anyways?!" Folly states, as he calls back Lombre upon seeing Scizor about to approach and crash her pincers against it with a sheer force, already knowing Lombre had lost this one just like Loudred did.

Trudly, finally back on his feet, finds himself grabbing hold of Folly's shoulder and dragging him along.

"Come on! We'll regroup later somewhere else!" Trudly states, as he bolts for it along with Folly.

"You'll regret this, Wes!" Folly yells from afar as he runs away, as Wes chuckles a little bit as he moves to address the issue of Trudly and Folly's cargo; the body bag they had, which the boy and the woman are trying to undo the tie on.

"Dang it! The rope is tied too tight for me to get loose!" The boy states, as the woman gasps a bit.

"I can't believe those kidnappers just did this to some poor individual!" The woman states, as Wes, carefully, moves the boy aside, as his own, stronger hands move to untie the knot around the top of the bag. As the knot comes undone, the bag opens up, as from within the bag, Wes' eyes find himself gawking a little bit as to a tall, redhead girl with pigtails being freed from the bag.

"Whoa! Careful there! You could have-" The girl tries to bring up, as Wes' gaze turns slowly into a glare.

'_Hey, this girl! She's the same one from last night!'_ Wes notes mentally as he looks at the girl's same, overtly covering attire unfit for someone her age in a region such as this, and having the same piercing, sapphire colored eyes looking directly at Wes.

"You…? I was not expecting you to be my savior in all of this hassle, especially considering… um..." The girl begins to state, as she looks around at her surroundings, noticing everything is a peaceful oasis built into a city in what is otherwise the middle of a massive desert. The city's buildings all have a very clean, white color palette to them, with various channels for water to pass through the city with. A far cry from what Pyrite Town looked like by comparison, with it's pristine, bright nature as opposed to the rustic, dirty feel of Pyrite.

"… I must apologize, but where are we, exactly?" The girl questions, not familiar with the surroundings of Phenac. The woman and child approach the girl and Wes, as the woman speaks up first.

"This is Phenac City. This man, whoever he is, saved you from those two goons who rushed off just a moment ago." The woman clarifies to the girl, as the girl looks towards Wes as she glances at him. Wes could've sworn right now, something was shining in the girl's gaze, as Tenebra steps forward to look at the girl, growling all the while. The girl, looking down at Tenebra, gasps a bit in surprise.

"Oh dear… I am so, so sorry for what had transpired yesterday… um… er… What is your name, exactly?" The girl speaks as though her emotions are valid for the situation; her scared confusion is genuine, but her quickness to calm when trying to prompt Wes or someone else for an answer needs to be heard to be believed.

"Call me Wes. What's your name by any chance?" Wes asks, as he shoots a glare towards the woman and the boy. Nothing short of an attempt to intimidate the two into running off and minding their own business, but also to alert them that he'll take care of things from here. The boy is quick to run off, as the woman nods as she calmly makes her leave. The girl, meanwhile, looks over towards the two leaving just from Wes' expression.

"I must ask why you felt the need to scare those two off. Then again, you have barely spoken at all by the time I came to hearing you and the others speaking earlier, Wes. However, I must apologize for the delay, I seem to have forgotten my manners. My name is Rui." The girl introduces, as Rui looks back towards Tenebra, then back up at Wes.

"I take it you want answers as to what I am seeing right now with your Umbreon, correct?" Rui asks, as Wes nods. "Okay… But why are you so quiet about every little thing? I am kind of uneasy from how calm you are, Wes." Rui responds, as Wes nods his head towards the nearest building towards the left from where he's facing. A large, white and blue building with a Poké Ball marking at the top of the door, with the letters "PC" labeled on the side of the building.

"Oh, you wish to keep this information discreet as possible. As you wish. We will rent a room in the Pokémon Center. Would you mind if I pay for the room as a way of saying thanks for rescuing me?" Rui asks, to which Wes shakes his head. Wes takes notice of Rui's pale skin, before beginning to state what he has against her offer.

"You're clearly not from here, Rui; if you pay for the room, we won't get any soundproofed room. Phenac may be an oasis, but even the locals have at least some kind of tanned skin; you, on the other hand, do not have such a tanned appearance." Wes begins to explain, as he looks over towards the northern side of the city. "However, as I've battled at Phenac's Colosseum before, all I have to do is showcase my ID and-" Wes tries to say, as he just realizes something, as he curls his left hand into a fist in a bit of pent up frustration.

"… Ah, right, that won't work as I thought. My ID is out of date as of today." Wes states, as Rui giggles a bit.

"A birthday, today? You must be lucky in a sense." Rui speaks, as Wes raises an eye.

"Exactly." Wes states as he rolls his eyes, before proceeding to walk towards the Pokémon Center as he returns all three of his Pokémon to their respective Poké Balls. Rui, moving to follow Wes, has her eyes gleam as she looks at him.

"Perhaps you would still take up on my offer for me paying for the room? Let us just say I have a few perks of my own that could get us a soundproofed room, if that is still what you wish." Rui insists, looking so eerily happy and engaged in her gaze at Wes, as Wes looks away with his eyes closing a bit.

"Quit looking at me like that." Wes bluntly states. Rui, on the other hand, moves to put herself in view of Wes' gaze, a quick pinch being felt on Wes' side as Rui saunters a bit towards Wes' front, as she develops a rather sultry gaze towards Wes.

"Then how about like this…?" Rui asks; the huskiness of her voice making it all too clear and unsubtle, as Wes groans a little bit.

"You are going to be the death of me at this rate. I mean, sure, I just turned 18 today, but may I ask how old you are so I don't get into any trouble?" Wes asks, a bit coldly, as Rui frowns a bit.

"18 as well; you have nothing to worry about from me, Wes. I do not have any Pokémon capable of inflicting any harm to you or your own Pokémon, so please, try and relax." Rui states, as she moves to walk into the Pokémon Center, as Wes shakes his head as he shrugs, before following Rui inside.

Once inside, Rui must've had quite a lot of cash on hand for her to actually be able to afford a soundproofed room. True, Wes' ID would've made the room much more easily booked had it not been for his ID being out of date, but the Pokémon Center's computer will allow him to easily update it. Wes had tried to argue that he could still use his ID once it was updated for the room, but Rui still insisted on paying for it herself.

Wes had no idea as to whether or not to feel in any way guilty over the decision made by Rui, as he finds himself arriving to the room a tad late. The room only has a single bed, but it does have a couch by the window. Wes can hear the sound of water running in a nearby room, assuming the sound to be Rui taking a shower. The rooms in the Pokémon Center all have a bathroom and shower located inside, as to allow everyone much needed privacy. Wes considered using the shower next, but upon smelling his own clothing, he can tell Folly had unwittingly washed the foul smell from Tenebra's spray out with his Lombre's Water Type attack.

Even so, right now perhaps falling asleep was the best route of action for Wes, but he still wants answers from Rui regarding what strange observations she had made about Tenebra. The entire ordeal Wes is in right now with Rui seems a little too suspicious; the chances of any other kidnapper from Pyrite capturing Rui would've been too high for him to have stumbling upon Trudly and Folly as being her kidnappers in particular. So many goons were present all at once on the scene, and Miror B. had entrusted those two with dealing with Rui. Just like how Miror B. had entrusted them to try and ultimately fail to cause Wes to break.

Still, though, perhaps it would be wise to reorganize his thoughts if he had something to eat. He barely bit into his sirloin at the Outskirt Stand, and luckily he had a few rations on hand to eat if he were to need food at any time. Grabbing one of them and materializing a sandwich from the small package, liquefied from a canteen of water to produce said sandwich, Wes begins to calmly munch away.

Beyond Wes' ability to perceive how events would unfold in the room he's in, Rui enters the room wearing a towel around her head and body. Rui, moving to grab dry clothing for her to wear, proceeds to remove the towel around her as she moves to get dressed. Putting on her undergarments first to cover herself, Rui manages to put shorts on first, and then her long skirt next, before finally noticing Wes in the room with her.

Wes just sits exactly where he is on the couch, just awkwardly eating a sandwich as he had been watching Rui change for quite some time without even realizing it. He could've sworn Rui wouldn't have done so, knowing he had been back in the room by the time Rui got out of the shower. Instead, what Rui says next is what surprises Wes the most.

"I, uh, apologize for what you had just witnessed. I was not expecting you to care at all if I had gotten changed here or not." Rui states, a bind emotionless in tone, as her sparkling gaze is rather down right now, and Wes notices all too well.

"… Is something bothering you?" Wes asks, as Rui looks at Wes and nods.

"May I see your Umbreon again? I wish to confirm something I had seen earlier about him." Rui asks, as Wes nods to her request, as he calls out Tenebra from his Poké Ball, as Tenebra looks towards Rui with a growl. The mere instant Tenebra's irises shrink in size as his gaze goes ballistic, Wes is immediate with moving to grab Tenebra from striking out at Rui, as Rui simply observes as Wes tries to keep the situation under control. Tenebra, snarling like a feral dog the entire time, doesn't even cause Rui to flinch as her eyes begin to shine a sparkling, crystal blue as she observes Tenebra's being.

"Wes, I am aware that your Umbreon did not have such an aura the day before, but I have to ask now. What had happened after I was captured to cause your Umbreon to possess this black, hatred and malice filled aura he has now?" Rui asks, as Wes is barely keeping Tenebra from lashing out at Rui and holding him by the scruff on Tenebra's neck.

"It's a long, complicated story of betrayal and revenge, to say the least. I'm assuming you're wanting every last detail on my misery knowing what has happened to my lifelong friend?" Wes asks Rui, as Rui looks uncertain a bit, before nodding.

"If that is what you are willing to explain, than I will listen to every detail of it." Rui states, as Wes looks at her with a nod. Suddenly, Tenebra bites down on Wes' left arm, drooling wildly all the while, as Wes doesn't even react to the pain one might expect from anyone else in this case.

"For starters, allow me to explain what had happened so many years ago that caused my left arm to effectively be a paralyzed wreck. Prepare yourself, since this is a story I don't tell lightly." Wes states, as he moves to drag Tenebra with him back onto the couch, as Tenebra barks wildly at Rui. "Tenebra! Get a hold of yourself! That's no way to treat a lady." Wes calls towards Tenebra, as Tenebra's eyes, for a moment, widen a bit as he appears to come to his senses, only for him to pass out asleep on the couch. Rui observes everything, as Wes looks towards Rui.

"Before I tell you my history, however, I need to know; what exactly do you mean by the unusual aura you see within Tenebra? _W__hat_ did those agents of Cipher _do_ to him?"


	8. Chapter 7: Rest

**AN: The reason I was surprised with how the last chapter turned out because had I been myself when I was about 5-6 years younger or literally any other fanfic writer who writes an M-Rated fic, I would've probably ended the prior chapter with an H-Scene. The fact I _didn't_ showcases how much I've learned my lesson over trying to include such scenes without rhyme or reason in the distant past. Sorry to disappoint any folks who wanted Wes and Rui to do it, but they've literally only just met.**

**Shadow Heat Chapter 7:**

* * *

"Your Umbreon has what I have seen only a few other times elsewhere around Orre. He has what I can see as a black aura emanating from his entire being."

Rui begins her explanation with that, as she watches Wes casually petting Tenebra with his left hand, as Tenebra is still passed out asleep. Rui, quickly recalling Tenebra biting Wes and noticing the powerful bite marks in the Snag Machine on Wes' left arm, as well as the numerous, dark red splats on his coat around there as well, closes her eyes slowly and shakes her head a bit.

"You have been at the merciless wrath of your own Umbreon, have you not?" Rui asks, as Wes looks at her with a bit of a subdued glare, before quietly nodding.

"That is what I figured. These unusual Pokémon, with the black aura they possess; I can see many things most people cannot. Your Umbreon, as well as any and all other Pokémon to likewise possess a black aura, will showcase not a shred of hesitation to attack humans, whether by order or not." Rui finishes explaining, as Wes looks at her cautiously.

"You know this, how, exactly?" Wes inquires, as Rui, realizing her shirt is still off, moves to turn around to turn her back to Wes. A massive, deep bruise can be seen all across Rui's backside, as Wes is a bit shocked, but waits for Rui to explain where this bruise came from.

"A green haired man with a Makuhita did this to me when my Minun tried in vein to fight back against my captors, when they demanded for information to which I do not possess." Rui states, as she moves to turn around and look at Wes. She is relieved to see Wes wasn't just staring at her, considering her petite frame almost fully exposed aside from her wearing a bra and being fully dressed otherwise at her waist down.

"Green haired man… Is he perhaps the same one I chased off with his blond friend earlier before I got you out of that bag?" Wes asks, to which Rui simply tilts her head.

"I am uncertain; I could not see what was going on outside of the bag from the inside." Rui states, rather bluntly, as Wes closes his eyes and sighs.

"Also, could be mistaken, but didn't you say you didn't have any Pokémon at all with you?" Wes asks, to which Rui shakes her head. Moving to reach for her jacket, she brings out a Premier Ball from within her jacket's pocket, as she opens it up and reveals a yellowish blue Pokémon called Minun.

"I said I do not possess any Pokémon _capable of inflicting harm_. My Minun is a companion, not a battler. She only knows the move Protect, and had been attempting to learn Helping Hand for some time now." Rui states to Wes, part of her tone sounding a little bit irritated, as Wes shrugs a bit.

"You were kind of vague with your wording earlier, might want to be more specific next time." Wes points out, as Rui nods.

"Alright. Is there anything else you wish to know about the black aura around your Umbreon?" Rui asks, to which Wes is nearly about to give her a glare, but quickly calms his gaze as he looks at her in the eyes, listening.

"The black aura surrounding your Umbreon; it is not as intense as I have seen with other Pokémon like him. This appears to be because, as far as I can tell, that keeping him outside of his Poké Ball and giving him a chance to battle or work will weaken the darkness within the black aura." Rui explains, as if anticipating Wes' silence giving her the all clear to explain.

"However, that is all else I know about this condition. I do not know if a cure exists for what has happened to your Umbreon or all of the other Pokémon I have seen with this aura. If I knew a cure exists at all, I would readily tell you right now about it. A las, that does appear to be the exact information from which those people desired from me, which I am incapable of giving at all." Rui finishes, as Wes moves to stand, gesturing towards Rui's shirt and coat hanging up beside the bathroom door.

"You should get dressed, I'm heading out to check out a few places around Phenac to see what I can bring Tenebra to do that'll cause his black aura to weaken as you've said. I wish you to follow me around for a while, just to be sure Trudly and Folly don't wind up kidnapping you again, or gods forbid anyone else in this city..." Wes tells Rui of his plans, as Rui nods, moving to get her shirt and jacket back on. Minun squeaks a little bit in a playful tone towards Wes, jumping up and down as she approaches Wes' foot so casually.

Rui, giggling a bit from what she sees with her Pokémon, looks over towards Wes with intrigue, "I have to say; this is the fastest I have ever seen Minny warm up to any new associate in all of my life." Rui says to Wes, as Wes looks back at her.

"And that's another thing; if anybody even looks at us funny or asks if we're a couple, our current awareness of each other stays at just associates until further notice. Nothing more, nothing less." Wes, rather rudely, states to Rui, as Rui puffs up her cheeks a bit in a tiny pinch of anger at Wes' harsh, commanding tone. Wes is looking the other way, preparing to leave the room as he waits for Rui to finish getting dressed. Rui knows better than to directly try and address Wes' attitude problems right now, considering her own lack of information on Wes' background makes it impossible to tell if he'll lash out at her, or perhaps worse.

At the same time, Wes is trying to keep things as professional as he can between the two; they've only known each other for a total of an hour so far, so neither Rui nor Wes have any interest to immediately want to refer to each other as anything more than associates. Again, as much as Rui would've preferred Wes not been rude about it, she doesn't deem it worth the trouble to argue about it just yet. She doesn't even know if she'll be seeing Wes anymore after today, and Wes likewise is uncertain of this as well.

'_I could possibly just attend to business elsewhere in Phenac will keeping a watch on her for the remainder of the day. Fall asleep in the room here sometime tonight, and then try and send Rui on her way once she feels safe enough to venture forward. Doesn't sound that hard, but knowing my luck as of today, I have a feeling something is going to come up any moment now to throw a hitch in that plan.'_

With Rui fully dressed, and Minny put back in her Premier Ball, Wes and Rui depart from their room, as Rui makes certain she has the keys to the room with her, as she taps Wes' shoulder to get his attention. Wes, again as if out of instinct, almost shoots a glare at her, but he loosens up once he realizes it was just Rui trying to get his attention.

"Perhaps you should hold onto the keys to our room?" Rui asks, as Wes turns around and looks at her, nodding as he takes the keys from her, then placing them into his pocket.

"Anything else?" Wes asks, sounding a tad irritated, as Rui shakes her head no in response. Wes, turning back around to leave down the hallway, suddenly have his eyes widen mentally as someone enters the hallway they're in; Wes extends his left arm outwards to keep Rui beside him, as Wes and Rui both watch as a peculiar young boy walks through the Pokémon Center's hallway. The boy is dressed in a blue suit that looks straight out of a fairy tale, and having a nice fedora as a hat that appears two sizes too big for his head. Accompanying him is a black and blue, humanoid Pokémon resembling a jackal.

The boy looks over towards Wes and Rui, smiling a waving in their direction. Rui waves back, giving a warm smile all the while, but Wes doesn't even so much as budge an inch. All Wes is doing right now is making sure his stoic expression stays that way, and he doesn't freak out from the realization of who he's seeing before him right now. The boy, entering his own room with the Pokémon following suit, the door closes behind the two. With that, Wes grabs a hold of Rui's arm with his left hand and escorts her outside in a bit of a panicked hurry.

"Hold up, are you alright?" Rui asks, noticing Wes' sudden change in demeanor.

"Nothing, just want to avoid that kid for now and pretend we never saw him." Wes states, bluntly and quietly, as Rui looks at Wes oddly, as Wes looks back at her once they approach the front door of the Pokémon Center within the main lobby. "I'll explain later, alright?" Wes states, as Rui nods. What about that boy gives Wes the impression of fright? Rui could only wonder, as fear is indeed what she is seeing from Wes right now.

"Um, Wes, may I suggest somewhere we check out to at least spread the word on what is afflicting your Umbreon? I do not believe it would hurt if we check out the Mayor's House and tell him about what we both know regarding these Pokémon with black auras." Rui asks, to which Wes looks at her, calming down as his breathing is a tad heavier than normal. After letting in a long inhale with his nose, before breathing out, without making a sound at that, Wes calms himself enough to answer.

"Sure, we'll give the Mayor a check to see if perhaps they know anything about the situation."


	9. Chapter 8: Phantom Force

**AN: This chapter took way too long to get uploaded, so I apologize for that. Life's been kind of rough ever since the beginning of 2020, and the entirety of January was utterly sorrowful, and February wasn't exactly any blatantly better. With only a few small spots in February turning out alright, and March having only a small setback in terms of my general stability. I won't elaborate too much, but keep in mind this all time low state of depression I've been in is going to without question hinder all of my fics in some capacity. It doesn't mean I won't at the very least try and still continue to update all of them when I can, though. I just can't stress enough how sorry I am for letting my own mental health issues slow down the rate of the uploads of my fics as a whole.**

**Shadow Heat Chapter 8:**

* * *

Something felt a tad eerie with their walk towards the mayor's house in Phenac. Rui is keeping up a bubbly attitude as she had first showcased while in public, whereas Wes is constantly shifting his eyes to glance around every individual street of the city proper. He's paranoid, because Wes has no idea where he might find a trainer who can more than give him a handful, and the worst part? There's absolutely nowhere for such a trainer to hide in a city as beautiful as this.

All of the trainers could easily be innocent people on the surface. Reflected in this sense by the clean, clear water flowing into small, artificially constructed rivers all across the city. As he had observed earlier, some of the buildings even had ponds atop them, in addition to flowing waterfalls originating from the highest level of the city. The Phenac Stadium, the pride and joy of the entire city, is a place that Wes personally wants to check out to see if anybody is worth battling.

Wes isn't even entirely certain as to why he wants to battle at a place he's notoriously noted to be the only place in all of Orre he's ever lost a battle at. Maybe it has to do with the idea of trying to blend in with his surroundings, knowing there's not a shred of shadow in this desert heat in this crystal clear city. Wes is lucky enough to already know where most of the highlights of the city are, including the mayor's house. Wes, realizing Rui would probably kick him in the groin if he had beat around the bush trying to take her there, walks up to the front door of the mayor's house.

On the second "floor" of the city, the mayor's house overlooks everything except for the Phenac Stadium, which is stationed at the northernmost part of the city. Wes shouldn't have gotten so distracted by this city's borderline magical beauty, as he quickly comes to his senses a tad too late after hearing the front door of the mayor's house suddenly open.

Rui's bubbly behavior ceased upon seeing a very tall, very skinny man walk out of the building. His entire body looks unnaturally athletic and skinny at the same time, something which any bodybuilder would tell you should be completely impossible to pull off in reality. That said, the fact such a man exists with such a build, standing before Wes and Rui right now and looking over the hill right in front of him, Wes pays the man no mind of attention when Rui observes, witnessing the tall, silver maned man smirk while letting out a subdued, echoing chuckle.

"**Greetings."** The man speaks, his voice having a natural, echoing tone to its deepness. Upon finally making eye contact with the duo once he turns his head down at them, Rui, and even Wes to an extent, are both put off by his stature. His blank, completely drowned out in red eyes that practically glowed, to the point his entire appearance screamed of being supernatural in origin. Heck, even his large, silver mane flowed behind him even though there wasn't even a breeze hitting his direction to cause it to do so.

"So what the heck are you supposed to be?" Rui asks to the tall stranger, as the man looks moves to bend his knees to look Rui directly in the eyes. The leering gaze he gives her, the man's eyes flash red in a hypnotic motion, as Rui's own eyes slowly begin to glow red as she gasps a bit in shock. Wes, upon seeing this man's hypnotic powers, covers his eyes with his visor as he moves to push Rui out of the way. With the man now looking at Wes' visor, which is like looking into a mirror, the man stops with the hypnotic power as he chuckles with a low, deep beyond normal voice.

"**Interesting. So you barely know this lass and yet you defend her with your own life. Didn't you say loud and clear that you could care less about anyone else but yourself? Or do you view this lass as a pet like your own Pokémon?"** The man asks, his voice still echoing in an unnatural tone, as Wes glares behind his visor. Rui, shaking her head a bit, regains her senses as her eyes turn back to normal, as she looks over at Wes and the mysterious stranger with nervousness.

"I hate it when people abuse power for their own gain, especially against innocents." Wes coldly states to the man, as the man simply chuckles.

"**And you know she's an innocent, how, exactly? Do you not realize you two have only known each other for less than a day? Who are you to say you know that this lass is an innocent?"** The man speaks, his voice sounding as innocent and as soothing as a Jigglypuff, but the malicious, monstrous implication of threats of a Gyarados, as Rui shifts uncomfortably shifts in place as she listens to the conversation and observes. Wes glances over at Rui a bit, before glancing back over towards the man.

"Who are you?" Wes asks, coldly, as the man simply stands fully upright and lets his massive height showcase himself to everyone in range in the broad, desert daylight. Dark aura manifests entirely around the man, but in the way they manifest from him, they glow with the brightness and allure of a wispy flame. With these smaller wisps manifesting from the man's aura, the man slowly begins to chuckle, before beginning to laugh out loud like a maniac as the wisps summoned before him wriggle and writhe in pain as they burn letters into the air before Wes' view. The wisps, upon finishing spelling out the name, suddenly fade out in a burst of sparks, as a black, glowing signature is left placed in the air, spelling out "Nascour".

"**I am a man who simply desires to be the most well known, well respected man of all of Orre. I intend to live up to my birthright to bring enlightenment to all of Orre, to advance human society into the peak of potential, while snuffing out every last flame that ****interferes with my own vision for perfection. For example, do you know why Orre is a barren desert to begin with? The Region in which no indigenous wild Pokémon exist?"** Nascour goes on a ramble with, as he finishes with a question to Wes. Wes frowns a bit, as he tries to recall.

"I… can't remember." Wes states, bluntly, though with an unusual genuine honesty to his inability to recall what had happened. The man simply chuckles a bit, as he leans down towards Wes as though his red eyes were trying to pierce through Wes' visor.

"**You want to remember so badly, don't you? You can't recall what had happened that affected you and everyone else ****7**** years ago, even though it was a massive devastation of the ecosystem that originally existed? My oh my, how one could easily forget what had transpired all of those years ago… especially, when, you know..."** Nascour states, as he leans in close to Wes' left ear as forcefully holds Wes firmly in place to keep him from moving.

"**Everything that had happened to the region is entirely your own fault, Wes."**

Wes' eyes snap open wide as his irises shrink behind the view of his visor; something clicks within his mind, and the memory he experiences isn't pleasant in the slightest. However, before he can ponder on it for too long, Rui immediately snaps Wes back to reality by forcefully shaking him in place to snap him out of, what she assumes anyways, to be the same hypnotic trick that Nascour tried to do to her.

"Wes! Focus, please!" Rui speaks directly into Wes' ears, as her voice is noticeably louder than she would've been had it not been for the two's close proximity. Wes snaps out of the trip down memory lane, but pushes Rui away with quite a bit of force, knocking her over in the process. Nascour chuckles a bit as he observes Rui getting back up on her feet and brushing sand off of her attire.

'_Thank goodness I chose to wear actual pants underneath this skirt...'_ Rui thought to herself in the heat of the moment, as she gets up and walks up to Wes as she rapidly raises a hand to strike him in the face for pushing her so roughly. She lets out would could be called a tiny squeak, however, when Wes readily grabs her wrist and prevents her from landing her hand against his face. Even behind his sun visor, Rui could tell that Wes is more than likely glaring at her, to which Rui only glares back.

"**I hate to interrupt an argument between you two, considering you have the subtlety of an old married couple in terms of your ship tease, but perhaps I can offer you two something you simply cannot refuse."** Nascour draws both of Wes and Rui's attention back towards him, as manifesting in front of him out of thin air are three Poké Balls glowing with a spectral, bright violet aura.

"Wes…?" Rui speaks, softly, as her eyes go wide as they begin to shine like sapphires as she steps away to move behind Wes. Wes, moving to block off Nascour from approaching Rui again, brings forth his own Poké Balls from his belt.

"**I knew you wouldn't back down to a fight of this caliber; I know your type too well, Wes. You're the kind who hates the mere idea of losing, and you want to settle the score and mark your first victory in Phenac City's foundation since the last time you were here. Am I not mistaken with that? Or shall I cut right to the chase?"** Nascour points out, as the Poké Balls he had summoned all forcefully open and reveal three rather large Pokémon before Wes and Rui's sight.

"You…?!" Wes speaks as his voice trembles, as his eyes widen as he takes in the sight of three, rather massively built bestial Pokémon. The Legendary Pokémon known as Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, whom Wes' eyes widen as another memory tries to hit his mind, until he forcefully stops himself from trying to remember during a battle that's about to ensue. Wes readies his Pokémon to prepare to call for Tenebra, Soliaré, and Scizor, as Wes notices Tenebra come out of his Poké Ball unprovoked. Rui covers her mouth as she watches, as Tenebra charges at Entei in particular and moving to bit and tear at Entei's tall neck, but the thickness of Entei's mane causes him to be incapable of inflicting much harm.

Entei bucks up with a powerful voice; a loud, ferocious roar escaping its maw. Tenebra is forced off of Entei as Entei's entire body becomes as molten hot as lava. As quickly as it had vanished, Entei's calmness suddenly returns, as the temperatures die down once Tenebra is further away, glaring up at Entei as he shudders a bit.

"Tenebra! You'll only hurt yourself trying to attack these three! Please, stop!" Wes shouts out to Tenebra to try and get him to come to his senses, all the while Raikou and Suicune both approach Wes and Rui with a bit of a faux pounce to get them startled, as Entei stands its ground as Tenebra rushes up directly in front of Entei to slam his whole body into Entei, only for it to have no effect. Entei roars again, forcing Tenebra back quite a distance as embers begin to appear on Tenebra's form, immeasurable burning scarring themselves into Tenebra's fur, as Tenebra's eyes go ballistic as he tries to pounce again towards Entei. For all of a brief moment, Wes can see something from Tenebra's eyes that actually cause his own eyes to widen in horror and shock.

'_T-Tenebra…?!'_ Wes thought to himself, as he witnesses tears being shed by Tenebra at this moment, as Tenebra charges his whole body into Entei a second time, but once again to no effect. Tenebra's wounds grow fierce, as Tenebra backs up to try and charge a third time, as Tenebra growls angrily. Rui looks at Tenebra, her eyes shining radiantly as Tenebra's aura from her view has significantly dampened since when she last saw his aura, as she watches in horror as Tenebra forces himself to try and strike Entei again, only for Entei to just pin Tenebra down, flat on the ground with a powerful stomp of one of its large, front feet.

Nascour, watching the entire scene unfold, simply smirks with his unnaturally wide smile as he observes the situation. **"Worthless. Does this scenario remind you of anything, Wes? I think you should recall by now, right?"** Nascour speaks, his sinister voice and smile echoing across the small balcony. Although Rui noticed a crowd beginning to gather from across Phenac, Wes could only tell their presence from the feeling on the back of his head of being watched by many. A feeling he knows all too well, at this point, at least.

"Who is that trainer challenging Lord Nascour?!" A woman asks, her tone vicious in sound, as an elderly man approaches the scene.

"Kids these days, thinking that they're all strong enough to challenge our Lord and Savior, Nascour." The man spoke, as a few kids gathered around and rushed ahead towards Wes and Rui, taking the latter completely off guard. The kids tug at Wes' coat to try and drag him away, but ultimately are not strong enough to do so, even with at least three kids being among them.

"Stop it, stop it! Leave Nascour alone!" The kids chanted, in a harmonious synchronization, as Rui moves to stand between the small kids and Wes.

"Children, please! Can you not see the truth of who exactly you are rooting for?!" Rui warns of them as she's forcefully pushed against Wes' backside as the kids attempt to get through her to get at Wes. At this point, Rui notices something about Wes due to their close proximity.

His entire body is shivering cold. Rui notices that something is wrong; is Wes legitimately afraid of these Pokémon that Nascour is controlling? Wes had been trying for a while now to move his right arm to call Tenebra back to his Poké Ball, but he's been nothing but shivering stiff without notice from anyone else. Nascour chuckles a bit, but the sound of irritation and boredom is escaping his lips.

"Perhaps nothing short of… ahem, cruel mercy will get you to pick up your toys and go home, kid." Nascour speaks, as he snaps his fingers as Entei suddenly moves to grab Tenebra in its jaws, before crunching down with a fiery, infernal gnash of its jaws against Tenebra's torso, before tossing aside Tenebra directly in front of Wes. Wes moves to grab a Burn Heal from his pocket and douse the flames across Tenebra's body with a medical spray of sorts, as Nascour simply moves into the plaza of the town as Entei, Suicune, and Raikou follow him obediently.

Even in spite of all of the cheering for Nascour, Nascour's expression is locked into a cold amount of indifference. "Nascour, Nascour! All hail Nascour!" He kept hearing repeated ad nauseam, but a quick, silent glare and glow from Nascour's eyes has the entire crowd shut up in response.

"What part of cruel mercy do you civilians not understand? Leave him be, but do not even entertain the notion of assisting him through this act of spite." Nascour speaks to the civilians in the city, as all of them begin to have their eyes glow red in response.

"Yes Lord Nascour, as you command, so it shall be." They all speak in eerie unison, as Rui is horrified as to what she is seeing from the crowd. It's clear that Nascour has them all under his control, but if this is the case, what of the mayor?

'_Oh shoot the mayor; Nascour had literally just walked out of his house!'_ Rui thought to herself, as she tries to move to head towards the door, but she stops herself when she realizes something.

She had almost attempted to move forward without taking into account Wes trying to nurse Tenebra's wounds just enough to where he slowly could begin to stand. Why did Rui feel as though helping Wes will not make her life smoothly in the process. Was this for the greater good of Orre as a whole? What chance does Wes have to possibly change the ways of an entire region after a display such as that? Rui doesn't know for certain, but at the same time, she isn't going to stand idle while Wes is hurting over Tenebra.

Moving to Wes' side as she assists with trying to carry Tenebra, Wes looks up at her with a bit of a glare.

"So? Is this just another display of cruel mercy from the likes of them?" Wes asks, as Rui glares at Wes in return, shaking her head. A long pause occurs between the young adults in question, with Wes slowly giving a small smile.

"I'm not like them; the better question is, are you anything like him?" Rui asks, nodding in the direction of Nascour off in the distance. Wes shakes his head no, as he moves to stand once he sees Tenebra, actually asleep, in Rui's arms.

"Come on, we have a long overdue chat with the mayor regarding the order of things." Wes tells Rui, as he moves to open the door to the Mayor's House, as Rui, carrying Tenebra without issue all the while, follows him inside. Someone among the crowd that had gathered had stayed in their spot, even after the crowd had long moved to do other things.

'_Hmmm… Was that who I think it is? Just now? He could've easily swamped that Nascour wuss with that particular Pokémon of his. What is he playing at…? I'll have to keep an eye on this situation further.'_


	10. Chapter 9: Shadow Rush

**Shadow Heat Chapter ****9****:**

* * *

The Mayor of Phenac wasn't exactly whom one might expect had they just witnessed what had unfolded with Nascour just outside of his home. One would've expected him to be a twisted looking individual, forged from literal nightmares, if merely to keep himself on the even playing field as his would be counterpart Nascour. Instead, however, Wes and Rui were in for an odd surprise; the Mayor is about the exact opposite of Nascour in every way.

Being incredibly short as opposed to immensely tall, and being literally round in obesity to the point of resembling a Jigglypuff in human form. His hair, which he keeps lightly braided, have the roundness, and perhaps softness as well, as the ears of a Marill. For some odd reason, though, this opposite nature even applies to the Mayor's eyes. The Mayor's eyes appear perpetually closed, and never once seem to open, whereas Nascour's eyes looked red to the point they never closed naturally.

"So you must be-" Rui speaks to try and break the silence, as the Mayor is quick to notice where Rui is standing. Jumping up into the air as if weightless in form, the Mayor floats to stand in front of Wes and Rui as he looks as far up as he can. Wes is practically bewildered at what the Mayor just did, but the Mayor doesn't think anything of it, and Rui is about to try and speak to ask in Wes' stead.

"I am the Mayor of Phenac, Es Cade. My heritage is needless to say rather long, and the variety of skills I was born with, well, there's simply too many to count." Es Cade speaks, his voice having an eerie amount of innocence to it, which Rui and Wes were to ask about, had it not been for Es Cade's apparent undying eagerness to speak further for everyone else.

"Please, no need to speak, I know full well what you ask, especially regarding the unfortunate creep that just had to learn the hard way that his minions had broken our deal. It's a shame; resources are scarce across the region, and he and his Cipher peons are focused so devilishly on hogging all of it to themselves." Es Cade speaks again, as Rui tries to speak up again, as this time Wes puts an arm out in front of her for a moment.

"Es Cade, is it? Why exactly did you allow Nascour, who is part of Cipher, free reign in this city?" Wes asks, as he feels somewhat fishy about the magic capable man, as Es Cade claps with his hands to summon forth an entire map of the region before the three of them. The southeastern section is colored blue, the northwestern-most colored green, and everywhere else with the exception of Phenac colored red, with Phenac being a singular, yellow spot on the map in question.

"Dear boy, my beloved Phenac City has been in my family's heritage ever since my grandfather used his own powers to generate water from nothing. Thus while creating this entire oasis in the process, it was declared by all factions that if my family were to keep this oasis constructed here, they'd all have to force each other to get along while setting foot in my city." Es Cade explains, as Rui listens.

"A neutral zone, so to speak. Although, then why does mostly everyone in Phenac worship Nascour like he's the true ruler of this place?" Rui asks, as Es Cade sighs a bit as he shakes his head.

"Nascour, Nascour, Nascour; no matter how many times I summon forth a literal and metaphorical ban hammer to keep him out of the city, my own restrictions prevent me from realistically keeping anyone out of the city. All is allowed entry in my city, and Nascour and his boot kissing fans from his numerous battles as Phenac Stadium have proven him quite a popular pest." Es Cade elaborates, as Wes glares a bit as he lets out a growl.

"Oh that smug prick has more than just popularity going for him, if he casually just intends to throw Legendary Pokémon at his disposal just to beat down inferior opponents with!" Wes barks, as Rui flinches a bit with how harsh Wes' tone comes across.

"Now now, as much as I'd like to see just about any trainer beat him in a battle, there's the more pressing matter I do believe your girlfriend wishes to ask me, since I do believe you've held her back a little too long now." Es Cade speaks, as Wes raises an eye at the strange old man. Sighing a bit as he holds his palm to his face, Wes moves to sit down off to the side, as Rui takes this as her cue to speak.

"Sir, I do believe that there have been trainers all across the region who appear to possess Pokémon with black auras corrupting their every being. Do you have any possible clue as to where we could look for more information?" Rui asks, to which Es Cade looks over at Wes as he seems to find the matter at hand perplexing, although in some capacity being able to tell something is off with the stirring Tenebra in Rui's arms. Wes needs only to nod in confirmation to Es Cade that Tenebra is one of the Pokémon from which Rui refers to, as Es Cade looks at Wes and Rui with concern.

"Well, this appears to be an issue I haven't witnessed occur in Orre in centuries if I'm not mistaken… but, er, I'd prefer that none of you two speak lightly about the pressing matter at hand, especially if..." Es Cade cuts himself off from finishing his thoughts, as Wes and Rui take notice of something uncomfortable about the atmosphere of the room entering everyone's minds.

"… Especially if what, Es Cade…?" Wes probes, as Es Cade tries to figure out how to finish his thoughts.

"… If you happen to be so bold about it yourself, perhaps you will be willing to review this footage I had recovered from a drone crashed at my front door from last night out in the desert?" Es Cade brings up, as he manifests the wreckage of the drone in question; a medium sized, aerial drone that appeared to have its entire midsection missing or destroyed.

"Oh, I have handled stuff like these before!" Rui excitedly states as she moves to approach the machinery, as Es Cade snaps his fingers to cause it to shrink into a portable, Poké Ball sized container for her to take.

"Not in my office you won't; I'm expecting another surprise visit later today and I need you two out of here before he shows up. I must apologize in advance if this seems abrupt, but ever since I got a hold of that wreckage, none of the various criminal factions have been acting right when at my doorstep ever since." Es Cade states, as Rui gasps a bit, as Wes moves to stand.

Rui grabs the container before she can feel Wes begin to drag her off, as Wes passingly says, "Right, so if any strangers ask if they want this drone, tell them you lost it and couldn't identify the thief." Wes states to Es Cade, as Es Cades waves the baffled Rui and Wes bye for the moment.

"Be careful with that wreckage! You don't know where it's been!" Es Cade calls out to them.

* * *

"Look, could we slow down a bit? At least take me to dinner if you plan on dragging me around like this!" Rui points out to Wes, as Wes had actually let go of her a while ago as he walks towards the northernmost point of interest in Phenac. Rui, following Wes out of some kind of instinctual interest, seems confused as to why Wes is willing to visit the Phenac Stadium, the prize and joy of Phenac as a whole. The waterways around this stadium are perhaps the largest of them all across the entire city, at that.

Wes, turning around as he faces Rui, looks at her with a bit of a glare. "Nobody asked you to stick around for as long as you are; I'm only enforcing it because I don't want you immediately abducted just an hour after I saved you." Wes tells Rui, rather indifferent and cold in tone, as Rui growls a bit as her eyes light up.

"Well then, prick, let me remind you of a crucial detail; I do not even know who the heck you even are!" Rui points out to Wes, as Wes continues his glare but otherwise doesn't budge.

"Excuse me? I'm the one who flat out forgot your name at this rate; can you say otherwise for yourself?" Wes asks, as Rui's eyes widen a bit.

"You are messed up… I cannot believe you are my rescuer of all of the thuggish men in this whole region. Why do you thrive in a climate which is so chaotic and upsets me?!" Rui brings up to Wes, as Wes sneers at her.

"Or maybe perhaps you should keep your naivety out of Orre like the rest of your doe eyed kind from literally any other region!" Wes remarks, as his hands clench into a fist.

"Well what do you expect me to do about it you jerk?! I am only here in Orre on a trip to see my grandfather, so what should I tell him about you when he asks why I am late?!" Rui questions as her anger is reaching a boiling point. Wes' eyes snap open wide a bit as his anger reaches a fever pitch.

"That your eyes are fucking breathtakingly beautiful beyond all reason?!"

Wes doesn't even realize what he's said even after Rui covers her mouth in a quiet gasp. Rui's face turns completely red at Wes' sudden, abrupt compliment of her appearance. Wes doesn't seem to register right away why Rui is blushing so madly, before it finally registers in his mind as to what he had said. Very slowly, Wes' face turns a beat red as Wes' eyes widen a bit, before Wes hastily puts his visor over his eyes to hide his expression more from Rui.

"Y-You seriously mean that…?" Rui asks, her voice having calmed down significantly.

"I-It was a slip; I shouldn't have said that out in public, not like this." Wes speaks, quiet in tone, as Rui's eyes widen.

"… You are being honest with that, aren't you…?" Rui asks, as Wes tries to hide his face from Rui's view; however, in spite of that, he gives a very slow, but noticeable nod to her in confirmation.

"… Could we discuss this later?" Wes asks, as he moves to continue his walk towards Phenac Stadium. Rui, as flustered as she is, comes to her senses to at least acknowledge Wes' request. However, Rui's hearing quickly picks up rather heavy footsteps approaching the duo. Looking behind both of them, three skinheads dressed in red, leather jackets approach the duo with expressions full of anger. Rui gasps, before moving to rush in front of where Wes was facing, as Wes quickly turns around upon realizing they are being followed.

"Oi, pretty lady alert." One of the three, wearing black sunglasses, remarks towards Rui as he lets out a wolf whistle towards her, as Wes simply glares as Rui silently grits her teeth in anger from behind Wes. The second skinhead, having red eyes, approaches Wes first.

"Talk about a wild party you decided to give all of Team Snagem for your 18th birthday. I honestly never anticipated that Wakin's suspicions about your loyalty has been correct this whole time." The man speaks, as the third skinhead, a green eyed man named Wakin, approaches Wes and shoves the other man out of the way.

"Wes… Been a long time since you and I seen each other face to face. Here I am returning to Team Snagem HQ after having been away for almost a full year, only to find the base completely sacked, and apparently you're to blame for it, correct?" Wakin speaks towards Wes, as Wes simply glares. Wes seems not to have noticed his visor is still covering his eyes, as Wakin smirks a bit as he forcefully pushes Wes' visor up out of the way to expose Wes' hostile, golden eyes underneath.

"Don't tell me it's true, Wes; don't tell me you're breaking up our band of brothers." Wakin speaks to Wes, as Wes sneers a bit.

"Those days are over, Wakin; you, Agrev, and Biden should've known long before now that I've never been a team player." Wes admits, as he grins a bit with seeing Agrev and Biden's frustration just behind Wakin, even though Wakin maintains his composure in spite of Wes' remark.

"Come on, Wes, don't be like that; at the very least tell us why you ditched us for a ho such as her." Wakin speaks up as Rui hears it as her gaze turns red in rage as she walks out from behind Wes. Moving to very, very harshly slap Wakin across the face, Wakin falls over onto the ground from the sheer force Rui managed to work up to slap him silly. Wakin stumbles a bit as he tries to get back up, before he manages to stand again as he looks at Rui.

"Whoa, this bitch can hit. Kind of surprised, considering she looks so skinny underneath all of that heavy clothing." The sunglasses wearing man, Agrev, speaks, as though he could see through Rui's clothing and realize just how petite she is. Rui, realizing Agrev must be able to do exactly that, hides behind Wes again as she turns herself away from the three skinheads to hide herself, a blush appearing across her face. Wes responds by glaring at Agrev in particular.

"Ditch the glasses for now, Agrev; you would rather not have me tear you to shreds and-"

"Tear us to shreds?!" Biden speaks up, as he snickers a bit at Wes' bold claim. "Last I recall, Wes, you had given up a majority of your Snagged Pokémon to Team Snagem's cause, and thus only that pathetic pair of Eeveelutions are the sole Pokémon you still have at this rate." Biden details, as Wes' pupils shrink in the sheer anger point he feels from Biden's words. Drawing out Tenebra and Soliaré's Poké Balls, Wes calls out his two signature Pokémon as he snaps his fingers as he commands Tenebra to strike out at Biden.

As Tenebra moves to attack, Biden calls out one of his own Pokémon, in the form of a dog-like Pokémon with a brush for a tail known as Smeargle. Smeargle, with a brush of its tail, manifests a bunch of spores to land on Tenebra's form, but not before Tenebra strikes Smeargle with a powerful, shadowy tackle that causes a few injuries to appear on Tenebra in the process. Normally, this wouldn't be out of place, but Tenebra still has the injuries sustained from Nascour's Entei earlier, which Wes mentally curses himself for not recalling that right away.

"Biden I hate to break it to ya but you're getting off easy here. Tenebra, return." Wes informs his former associate, as Wes calls back Tenebra before the spores can take hold of Tenebra fully. Wes responds next by sending out Scizor next, "Alright, Lilith, shall we say? Let's get some demolition done." Wes speaks, as Rui notices something as she observes Wes' fight with these strange skinheads.

"Wes, do you know these goons? As in, personally?" Rui interrupts, as Wes looks back at her.

"Is now really the best time to ask that?!" Wes snaps at Rui, as Wakin snickers a bit at Wes' frustration.

"Wes, calm down, dude. Can't you at least admit to the girl that you used to be Team Snagem's Ultimate Snagger before you decided to betray us?" Wakin speaks, as Rui's eyes widen.

"Wes, is this true…?" Rui asks, as Wes looks back at her with an aside glare.

"What do you think?" Wes asks, coldly, as Rui shivers a bit as she realizes Wakin and his two friends speaks the truth regarding Wes' background. Rui feigns calming down at the moment, as she nods her head as she continues to observe. Wakin realizes that Biden won't be getting nowhere with Soliaré and Lilith, and snaps his fingers with a snicker as he proceeds to call out his own Pokémon as Agrev calls out one of his Pokémon as well. The Pokémon in question are known as Crawdaunt and Machamp respectively.

"Three against one, these are more your odds at this rate, am I right, or am I right, Wes?" Wakin speaks, as he snickers a bit. Wes glares as he observes, before suddenly without realizing it, Tenebra breaks out of his Poké Ball again, as Tenebra's eyes are wide as he snarls at Wakin and his group. Tenebra turns around to face away from them, before suddenly unleashing a massive spray of some kind of gaseous substance that completely has Wakin, Biden, and Agrev screaming in pain as an immense, painful sting hits their eyes, as each of their three Pokémon are quickly recoiling in the same amount of pain.

Soliaré, realizing the situation, and sensing some concern from Wes and Rui, teleports Wes, Rui, Tenebra and Lilith back to their shared room at the Pokémon Center. Wakin and his pack slowly recover from Tenebra's toxic sweat having been sprayed in their faces directly at full force, before quickly realizing Wes and his small group have fled the scene. Leering a bit as he realizes this, Wakin snaps his fingers to get the attention of Biden and Agrev.

"Come on boys, we're reporting this to Miror. B. He's due to arrive any moment, and we'd better not disappoint with informing him personally that Wes and the girl B is obsessing over are both here in Phenac."

"How do we expect to find them, though? They've vanished without a trace." Biden speaks to Wakin, as Agrev smirks a bit as he looks his two associates.

"Wes is as stubborn as he is predictable. Why bother searching for him ourselves, when we already know ahead of time he's already going to be looking for Miror. B? He'll simply come to us instead, so let us anticipate when he's due to realize when exactly Miror. B shows up."


	11. Chapter 10: Nasty Plot

**An: So you'll notice that I've been naming the individual chapters so far after moves in the Pokémon games, but this particular chapter is instead named after an item. I guess consider it a way of designating specific chapters of a certain type over others. Any chapter like this I name after an item clearly meant to be either food or drink is more of a time for a breather as opposed to the chapters named after moves otherwise. Then there are the significantly more important chapters which I'll more than likely take the names of other Pokémon terms to use to designate them as super important.**

**Shadow Heat Chapter 10:**

* * *

Wes and Rui are back in their room at the Pokémon Center, if merely because of Soliaré teleporting them here in response to Wakin's pack and their Pokémon about to gang up on Wes. With Tenebra heavily crippled for the time being, and with Soliaré in a mindset of only being able to support Lilith with fighting, Wes would've easily lost that fight due to the unfair odds.

Wes calms down as his breathing is heavy and rapid in succession, as Rui moves to approach Wes as she forcefully attempts to turn Wes around so that he would face her. Rui struggled, though, as Wes' larger frame made it so it would be impossible for someone as petite as Rui would move him by force.

Unfortunately, Wes didn't have the same issue regarding easily moving Rui, as he turns around and moves to approach her to force her to back up against the nearest wall while gasping as Wes glares at her directly in the eyes.

"H-Hey! Snap out of it! What's with you all of a sudden?!" Rui yells out, as Wes pins Rui to the wall as his breathing is heavy all of a sudden; his glare is intense, his golden eyes piercing Rui's soul directly through the sheer malice on display in Wes' gaze. Rui didn't understand how someone like Wes could exist; a rebel against Orre's corrupt system, or just another guy whose only out for themselves? Rui was more than willing to bet on the latter.

"Listen, LISTEN!" Wes speaks up, as Rui covers her mouth to avoid letting out any sounds as she shudders a bit at Wes' demand for her attention. "You know nothing of me to even remotely begin to associate with me as close as you would think." Wes speaks, as he looks at Rui, his gaze facing downward, as Wes forcefully opens Rui's jacket and moves to lift her purple shirt up, exposing a sparkly cyan bra covering her breasts. Rui is too scared to attempt to get Wes to back off, but Wes looks at Rui with a more subdued gaze.

"Rui, you're a very pretty girl; I'm not one of those jackasses elsewhere in Orre who won't even bat an eye if someone like you is suddenly targeted to be raped. I want nothing to do with those kind of scum..." Wes tells Rui, his tone more noticeably calm, as he closes his eyes. Taking in a deep breath, as he lets out a sigh, he moves to pull Rui's shirt back over her frame and buttons her jacket back up. Rui's eyes are wide as she watches Wes' choice of action; Wes made it look so easy, how he could've just had his way with her then and there with her helpless to stop him.

Wes, looking away from Rui, has a hint of regret in his eyes, as he moves to turn around and walk over towards Soliaré and Tenebra. Kneeling down on the floor to pet both of his Eeveelutions, Rui watches in shock as to how Wes showcases a significantly different demeanor when in the face of his two main Pokémon. She observes as Wes gently pets Soliaré behind his ears, as Wes has another hand occupied with petting Tenebra along the top of his nose. He's so gentle with his Pokémon, and yet she can't help but feel Wes has no idea how to interact with actual people.

After waiting a solid minute in silence, as she watches Wes petting his two Eeveelutions, Rui finally speaks up and tries to ask something important.

"Wes…? Am I able to ask you something?" Rui asks, as Wes stops petting his Pokémon, as he glances at her from the corner of his eyes. "If you admit that you're not so different from most people in Orre… why do you still keep me around now?" Rui asks, as Wes looks at her, as a soft cough is heard as Wes tries to clear his throat.

"That drone we hauled off from the Mayor's House. You seemed interested in it. You wouldn't happen to be a mechanic, would you?" Wes asks, a tad cold in his tone, as Rui looks over towards him as she nods to him.

"Of course! I've always wanted to work as an engineer, ever since my uncle made a living from working one of the windmills used to power Pyrite Town. He's loaned me a few parts here and there, but I've not had enough parts to actually make my own vehicle to get across Orre easily." Rui speaks, as Wes listens to her.

"… Go on." Wes tells her, simply, as Rui tries to think on something that might continue to keep his interest. She admits, she does need a lift from here to Pyrite, and perhaps Wes can see a mutual benefit from her and-

"Oh, hold up! That reminds me! That Snag Machine on your left arm, it can steal Pokémon from trainers." Rui tells him, letting a brief pause occur before she speaks again, "And I can see Pokémon with black auras, just like Tenebra, or perhaps those Legendary Pokémon used by Nascour. Not only that, but from the sound of venom in your voice regarding your former pals..." Rui tries to inquire an idea in Wes' mind, as Wes hides his expression from her as he smirks a bit.

"So lemme get this straight; you want to assist me in hitting Cipher where it hurts, by you making sure I know exactly which Pokémon to Snag from any given target, and then I proceed to Snag them while I make sure Cipher can never do harm to them ever again. Is that correct?" Wes asks, as Rui nods.

"Yes! That's precisely it! Although… uh… I hate to say this, but I currently don't recall a way to get the Pokémon to begin to completely act like their normal selves..." Rui points out, as Wes moves to stand, as Soliaré and Tenebra stand by his side. Wes moves to approach Rui, calmly, as he looks at her with a somewhat brightened up gaze.

"So, that'll simply be a figure it out as we go along process in that case. I'm game for this little scheme to get back at Cipher after what they did to Tenebra. Are you willing to accompany me to make sure this mission does not fail, Rui?" Wes asks, as Rui nods her head in confirmation.

"Yes, I'll even see to it that your vehicle is all nice and attended to should anything happen to it! Trust me, you won't regret having me as a mechanic at your side, partner!" Rui exclaims, as Wes moves to hold his hand out for Rui to shake, as Rui eagerly accepts his offer, as the two shake hands.

"Right then, first order of business we have to do is acquire some Poké Balls for us to begin to Snag these Pokémon away from any and all associates of Cipher we come across. I'm afraid I don't have any on hand, but I know just the place not far from Phenac as to where we can stock up. Sound like a plan?" Wes asks, as Rui nods.

"Yes, so this is the part where we prepare ourselves for the drive ahead?" Rui asks, as Wes nods.

"Exactly; we'll stock up on other essentials here at Phenac first, and then we'll head out to the Outskirt Stand within one hour tops."

* * *

**AN: Shorter chapter than usual, but I think I'm more pleased with the results this time around than I was with the results of the latest chapter of Starlight Ablaze.**


	12. Chapter 11: Hyper Mode

**Shadow Heat Chapter 11:**

* * *

Wes and Rui looked over the scrap of the drone that the mayor had given them. They realized they couldn't exactly easily haul it somewhere else for safekeeping, and to acquire the data drives on it would require fast work.

Work that Rui doesn't even waste time to prepare for, as she is quick to undo the buttons on her jacket. "Wes, do me a favor, and try not to stare for too long? I don't mind you watching my work, but… well… you'll get it clear enough in just a moment." Rui speaks to Wes, as Rui tosses aside her jacket, as Rui moves to lift her shirt up and tosses it aside, revealing her perky breasts covered by her bra.

Mercifully, she doesn't remove her bra, but she does remove her white skirt, quickly undoing her silver pants like they were nothing, which then reveals an equally sparkling cyan set of panties underneath once removed. Most surprisingly of all, though, is that Rui has a small belt to her aside with a specialized toolbox at her hip, and with a quick press of a button on it, it expands in size to a full sized toolbox. With Rui taking it off of her belt and setting it down in front of her, she moves to get down on her knees as she takes out a wrench.

"Jeeze, whoever designed this thing must've had the intent that not even a Blastoise could destroy this _thing_, which only has me _more_ intrigued with how something could've so much as dented this drone." Rui speaks up, as Wes' gaze is fixated on both Rui and the strange drone as well. He seems to be doing good at paying attention mostly to the drone, but Rui's removal of much of her clothing is… unusual, but it didn't begin to sway Wes' attention just yet.

Key word being yet.

Rui takes out a pair of heavily covering gloves, as she also takes out an armored mask and a blowtorch. Once putting on the gloves and equipping the mask, the visor on the mask begins to shine a light onto the drone before her. Upon flicking the switch on the blowtorch, she begins to burn away a straight line of heavily condensed armoring out of her way.

"This is drone is a model I'm not familiar with, except for the fact it's heavily using a template from Aggron-grade armoring to keep it's data drives intact. Usually, these drones keep their drives installed within the cores of them, and for us to recover the data drives, we basically tear off the armor as much as we can, and then grab the core." Rui states, as she begins to remove the first outer plate of armor from the shelled drone, as the secondary layer proves to be stronger than the first, as her blowtorch begins to have a slower time burning through it.

"So what do we do with the bits and pieces of scrap once we got the core?" Wes asks, as Rui looks at him and raises an eye from behind her obscuring face mask.

"Really? You do realize nobody's going to pay full price for a drone that's going to be _this_ heavily dismantled, right? The only way either of us are going to get any money off of this is to sell the individual pieces of salvage remaining once we grab the core. Once we grab the core, everything else is useless aside from being sold to a recycling crew. The Mayor doesn't seem like someone who would want it back after how much armor I'm going to have to tear through here to get what we need." Rui elaborates more, as she manages to get halfway into removing the second layer of armor, before prying with enough force to remove the second layer.

"Oh… you've _got_ to be kidding me… Whoever designed _this_ is a complete and utter _pervert_..." Rui states, bluntly, as she removes her mask and puts that and the blowtorch away, as she looks at Wes with a bit of a glare. "Turn around. I don't want you to so much as consider any dirty ideas of creeping up behind me while I'm working at this frickin' third layer of armor, alright?!" Rui tells Wes, as Wes raises an eye.

"What's the big deal? Isn't this just like removing the other two layers?" Wes inquires, as Rui shakes her head, as she grabs a very peculiar device from her toolbox that catches Wes off guard. A much larger blowtorch that, upon igniting the torch, draws out a complete, concentrated blade of violet fire before it. Quickly sheathing it, Rui begins to put her mask back on to cover her face.

"Oh _hell_ no; this armor is so tough that not only will I have to use _this_ bad boy to remove it, but I can't keep my hands steady if my body isn't free to feel sweat at _every. Last. Portion_ of it." Rui states, as Wes blinks.

"… And what is _that_ implying?"

"I have the skill to tear the piece apart, but I have to be completely nude to keep my mind focused away from my sweat long enough for me to get the job done. So off goes these..." Rui states, as she simply undoes the strap to her bra and strips her panties off, kicking the latter away and tossing the former onto them. "Now then, _let's get started_." Rui states, panting a bit audibly as she sounds rather torn between excited and worn out with what to do next, as she activates the visor of her mask to light her line of sight, as she proceeds to practically drill through the third layer of armor with how much noise her specialized torch makes burning through the third layer of armor.

Wes does what he can only guess is the best choice of action, as he attempts to turn away from Rui as to avoid looking at her. However, by this point, something about this whole situation seems to eat away at his mind.

'_You're honestly going to listen to her and not tap that glorious ass you dense idiot?! She's in crystal clear view with every bit of her exposed and you're just going to be a boy scout at her demands?!'_ Wes' mind begins to think towards him, as though having a conversation with him in some way.

'_I'm not-… I-I… Do you not realize she might burn herself if I touch her at a time like this?'_

'_You dolt, you do realize that she doesn't have any logical reason to strip like a whore with something like this? Weren't you covered in armor when you last fixed up your ride?'_

'_And which ride would that be? They're both stunningly beautiful and-'_

Wes' eyes open a bit as he winces at that mere thought alone. His hormones are getting the better of him, as he could've sworn he could smell some kind of alluring scent in the air, coming from Rui's direction. Wes covers his ears, as he closes his eyes.

"And we're just about done." Rui speaks, as there is an awkward pause with Wes that he doesn't react to what Rui had just said for a solid minute. After hearing a few scrambling of mechanical parts, Wes can hear Rui begin to stand up and put her toolbox back where it belongs as her side, and then proceeding to walk up towards Wes. Wes dares not look, but Rui taps on his shoulder a bit; Wes nearly grabs her arm, but forcefully stops his hand from trying to touch her. Wes is shivering, trying to subdue his own primal urges at this point, as Rui looks at Wes and sighs.

"I'm not going to lie, normally whenever I have to tear apart wrecked vehicles or drones, I usually wind up having to pleasure anyone who has the misfortune of being stuck with me while I work my craft. Since you're trying a little too hard to be a gentleman, though… could you possibly hand me this PDA of yours for a moment…?" Rui asks, as she forcefully snatches Wes' PDA from just underneath his coat collar, as Wes opens his eyes and looks as Rui moves to snap a photograph of herself, completely naked, covered in all sorts ash and black smudge across her whole body; he couldn't even see any more private parts of her due to how much was covering her, but once Rui has the photo taken, she simply hands Wes his PDA back to him, as she simply saunters off back to the bathroom to get herself cleaned up.

"Now then, you'd better make sure that ride of yours is fully fueled up before we leave. I've put the data core in my toolbox, and considering how it's normally covered, nobody will realize to look there for it if we run into trouble." Rui tells Wes, as she shuts the door to the bathroom, as almost immediately the shower could be heard being used by her. Wes' eyes are a tad wide as he can't help but gawk at the door, but he moves to open his PDA and check the photo, but before he even gets the chance, there's a note attached to it.

"If you want my other services, I want to know if you're comfortable with me before I try asking again. I'm giving you this photo of me as a reward for listening to my requests. To my savior's 18th birthday, Rui 'Mirei'~"

'… Wow… S-She's… Okay with letting me have this? Why, though…? Even if what she's implying is true, I can't afford to let Cipher catch me off guard. Although, on the other hand, this could be a useful means of hiding should we ever find ourselves infiltrating the frickin' Under at some point… Those suspicious, paranoid pricks stay out of your way when you're with someone and doing eachoth-'

Wes doesn't waste time in punching the nearest wall with his left fist, leaving a sizable dent in the wall, as Wes tries to vent his internal frustration and sheer confusion. Said confusion is only amplified, however, when the wall begins to crack away at an immense rate, before shattering the paint clean off as fragments fall to the floor. Wes looks at the wall, thinking he's now going to have to shill out who knows how much cash to fix it.

However, that thought changed with the strange imagery the wall showcased, leading him to think nobody would dare consider repainting over this now revealed tapestry of a massive Pokémon being surrounded by spires, appearing to be engaged in combat with Groudon and Kyogre, despite heavily resembling Groudon itself with something attached to its backside. A large, heavily built dinosaur, with massive arms, firing an energy beam from its attachment as Groudon fires flames and Kyogre spouting water; both of the two primordial forces of Land and Seas… working together?!

"Okay, if you need to shower before we leave and- HOLY SH… What the heck is this you've uncovered?!" Rui asks, after having stepped out of the bathroom, fully dressed, but unable to comprehend what this odd tapestry she is looking at is trying to depict. Wes' eyes are wider than they've ever been this whole day, as Wes steps back a bit as he photographs the tapestry with his PDA.

"Rui, we need to bail, now! There's no way Nurse Joy's letting us stay after I broke the wall yet alone exposing whatever this fucking artwork is meant to represent!" Wes states in a moment of panic, as Wes calls out Soliaré from his Poké Ball as well as Tenebra. Tenebra nearly freaks as he suddenly whimpers upon the sight of the gigantic form clashing against both Groudon and Kyogre on the wall, as his breathing suddenly becomes heavier. Rui notices something is wrong with Tenebra, though, as her eyes begin to glow a bright crystalline blue with shock.

"Wes!" Rui calls, as Wes turns towards Tenebra, as Tenebra's entire body suddenly turns pitch black as his eyes suddenly glow a savage red in color, letting out an ungodly howl into the air, as he suddenly charges Wes into the wall and begins to tear with his fangs at Wes'. Wes' left arm blocks the attack, though, but Tenebra's jaws grip tightly onto his artificial limb as Soliaré ducks and hides behind Rui away from where Tenebra and Wes are as Wes grabs the scruff of Tenebra's neck.

"Tenebra! Cease! Yield! Tenebra! Listen to me and stop this at once, please! TENEBRA!" Wes calls out, repeatedly with a loud, harsh tone, but only because he can't tell if Tenebra can even hear him right now, what with Tenebra snarling like a mad dog as he tries to forcefully tear apart Wes' prosthetic as Rui and Soliaré back away, utterly helpless, from the whole scene.

After what feels like an eternity of Wes trying in vain to call out to Tenebra, Wes finally manages to get a strong enough grip on the back of Tenebra's neck, with his prosthetic keeping hold of Tenebra's hips as he holds him suspended in the air in front of him. Wes and Tenebra are both heavily breathing, but with Tenebra's wild barking and shrunken irises, it doesn't appear Tenebra even seems to care that Wes is trying to get him to calm down.

A drop of water hitting the floor, though, makes Tenebra suddenly shut up completely, as his irises widen. The look he gets from Wes; he's scared shitless, no matter how hard his expression tries to indicate otherwise, as a tear had trailed down his face from one eye. Followed by another tear from the other.

"T-Tenebra… please… I don't want to see you suffer like this… I lost you once already, I don't want to lose you ever again… P-Please… just… be a good boy for me, and calm down… please..." Wes speaks, his tone horrified and distraught, as Tenebra appears to be in utter disbelief as to what he must've done. Tenebra, feeling utterly horrified as to what must've happened, suddenly breaks out of Wes' grasp by manifesting into a smoke-like form, before manifesting in full proper and bolting out the door of the bedroom. Wes doesn't even move, or attempt to stop Tenebra, too heavily shocked to try anything just yet. Rui, and Soliaré, both move forward to approach Wes.

"W-Wes… Is everything going to be alright…?" Rui asks, as Wes can't even bring up a glare when he suddenly looks her way; instead, closing his eyes as he tries to not break down crying before her.

"I wasn't strong enough right then to keep him from running… I'm beginning to think Tenebra is now considering himself a threat to everyone in this room… I already know that's the last thing he ever wanted to be viewed as since so many years ago since..." Wes stops himself, as he tries to form words to describe what happened, before suddenly yelling out a massive scream as the downpour of tears begin to intensify a little.

Not before, however, Wes forcefully manages to get himself to stand up, as he analyzes his left arm briefly before making sure of what to say.

"Rui, I need you to check on my bike to make sure it's fully fueled, I know exactly where Tenebra's heading and I know what to do, but we have to act fast. Right now I need to make sure I grab something from the nearby PokéMart so that we can get Tenebra back." Wes says, as he immediately leaves the room, with Rui and Soliaré both quickly following behind.

"Got it, but where could Tenebra possibly be heading?" Rui asks, as she looks warily at Wes, uncertain of what might happen next if they find him. Wes, closing his eyes, shakes his head a bit, as he opens his eyes.

"He's heading to the place him and I had first met, but not without good reason. He's there. Waiting for him. Waiting for me." Wes speaks, eerily, as Rui looks at him and speaks up.

"Who?"

"The one whose name speaks with thorns of vice… his name is Rosso."


End file.
